Use this URL to cite or link to this record in EThOS: | https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.702156 |
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Title: | Biological information | ||||
Author: | Lean, Oliver Miles |
ISNI:
0000 0004 6056 6495
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Awarding Body: | University of Bristol | ||||
Current Institution: | University of Bristol | ||||
Date of Award: | 2016 | ||||
Availability of Full Text: |
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Abstract: | |||||
This thesis addresses the active controversy regarding the nature and role of informational
concepts as applied to the biological sciences - in particular, the relationship
between statistical or correlational information on one hand and meaningful, semantic,
intentional information on the other. It first develops a set of basic conceptual
tools that can be applied to any, or at least most, putative cases of information processing
in biological systems. This framework shows that, contrary to popular belief,
we can make sense of biological information in the former, statistical sense, without
it trivially applying to any and all physical processes that take place in living things.
I then demonstrate the utility of this framework by applying its tools to specific
information-related controversies: the concept of innateness, and information versus
influence in animal communication. These chapters demonstrate that these issues
can be clarified with the tools previously developed. I also discuss the notion of
primitive content - the simplest form of biological phenomenon that can reasonably
be said to be contentful. This issue serves as a biological basis for future research
regarding the ongoing philosophical problem of relating the physical to the mental.
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Supervisor: | Not available | Sponsor: | Not available | ||
Qualification Name: | Thesis (Ph.D.) | Qualification Level: | Doctoral | ||
EThOS ID: | uk.bl.ethos.702156 | DOI: | Not available | ||
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