Two concepts of information

✍ Scribed by Klemens Szaniawski

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1974
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 460 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0040-5833
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00140298

✦ Synopsis

The paper introduces the concept of pragmatic information of the variable X on variable S, relative to decision problem U and criterion K: C(X, S; U, K). For the sake of comparison with the Shannon measure of information, K is interpreted as the maximization of expected utility while U takes on the special form of an epistemic problem. The two concepts are then comparable and exhibit certain similarities. Some comments on pragmatic information conclude the paper.

0. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Among the different meanings of the word "information", there is at least one which makes it closely connected with decision-making. It usually is referred to as "pragmatic information", 1 the adjective indicating that what we have in mind is information for some purpose.