Object Discernment by “A Difference Which Makes a Difference”

Biosemiotics 11 (1):27-40 (2018)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Gregory Bateson is well known for defining information by stating “In fact what we mean by information – the elementary unit of information – is a difference which makes a difference…” This conceptual perspective has the merit of simplicity and generality. Simplicity, in addressing the complexity of information. Generality, in seeking applicability to any and every field of human experience. The purpose of this paper is to focus the applicability of this conceptual approach by Bateson and use it to perform a calculation of taking the difference between two grey-level digital images that are shifted one relative to the other. The digital images take the place of the field of view that a human being would have access through her sense of vision at two different spatial/temporal instances. The results show that it is possible to highlight the edges of the objects under scrutiny, as well as to highlight other differences within the object. Bateson’s “difference that makes a difference” would seem to provide a first step in the elusive meaning making process of humans.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Does the existence of mathematical objects make a difference?A. Baker - 2003 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 81 (2):246 – 264.
Difference-making in context.Peter Menzies - 2004 - In J. Collins, N. Hall & L. Paul (eds.), Causation and Counterfactuals. MIT Press.
Causes As Difference‐Makers For Processes.Christian Loew - 2017 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 98 (1):89-106.
Beliefs and Dispositions.David Hunter - 2009 - Journal of Philosophical Research 34:243-262.
The pattern that connects and the difference that makes a difference.S. J. Bell & J. Wilby - 2012 - Emergence: Complexity and Organization 14 (1):vii - x.
Truth vs. Rorty.Uwe Steinhoff - 1997 - Philosophical Quarterly 47 (188):358-361.
The difference difference makes : public health and the complexities of racial and ethnic differences.Ruth Groenhout - 2010 - In Jackie Leach Scully, Laurel Baldwin-Ragaven & Petya Fitzpatrick (eds.), Feminist Bioethics: At the Center, on the Margins. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Making a Difference in a Deterministic World.Carolina Sartorio - 2013 - Philosophical Review 122 (2):189-214.

Analytics

Added to PP
2018-03-25

Downloads
17 (#742,076)

6 months
2 (#668,348)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?