Information, arbitrariness, and selection: Comments on Maynard Smith

Philosophy of Science 67 (2):202-207 (2000)
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Abstract

Maynard Smith is right that one of the most striking features of contemporary biology is the ever-increasing prominence of the concept of information, along with related concepts like representation, programming, and coding. Maynard Smith is also right that this is surely a phenomenon which philosophers of science should examine closely. We should try to understand exactly what sorts of theoretical commitment are made when biological systems are described in these terms, and what connection there is between semantic descriptions in biology and in other domains.

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Peter Godfrey-Smith
University of Sydney

Citations of this work

The transmission sense of information.Carl T. Bergstrom & Martin Rosvall - 2011 - Biology and Philosophy 26 (2):159-176.
Arbitrary Signals and Cognitive Complexity.Ronald J. Planer & David Kalkman - 2021 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 72 (2):563-586.
Biological information.Peter Godfrey-Smith & Kim Sterelny - 2012 - In Ed Zalta (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

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References found in this work

Knowledge and the Flow of Information.Fred I. Dretske - 1981 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 175 (1):69-70.
The extended replicator.Kim Sterelny, Kelly C. Smith & Michael Dickison - 1996 - Biology and Philosophy 11 (3):377-403.
On the theoretical role of "genetic coding".Peter Godfrey-Smith - 2000 - Philosophy of Science 67 (1):26-44.

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