Call for papers, special issue of Minds and Machines dedicated to the philosophy of information. Guest editor: Luciano Floridi. Deadline: 31 January, 2003.

In 1998, introducing The Digital Phoenix, How Computers are Changing Philosophy Terrell Ward Bynum and James H. Moor acknowledged the emergence of a new force in the philosophical scenario:

"From time to time, major movements occur in philosophy. These movements begin with a few simple, but very fertile, ideas -- ideas that provide philosophers with a new prism through which to view philosophical issues. Gradually, philosophical methods and problems are refined and understood in terms of these new notions. As novel and interesting philosophical results are obtained, the movement grows into an intellectual wave that travels throughout the discipline. A new philosophical paradigm emerges. [...] Computing provides philosophy with such a set of simple, but incredibly fertile notions -- new and evolving subject matters, methods, and models for philosophical inquiry. Computing brings new opportunities and challenges to traditional philosophical activities. [...] computing is changing the way philosophers understand foundational concepts in philosophy, such as mind, consciousness, experience, reasoning, knowledge, truth, ethics and creativity. This trend in philosophical inquiry that incorporates computing in terms of a subject matter, a method, or a model has been gaining momentum steadily."

This new area of research has been defined as the Philosophy of Information (PI).

PI is the new philosophical field concerned with

a) the critical investigation of the conceptual nature and basic principles of information, including its dynamics (especially computing and information flow), utilisation (especially computer ethics issues) and sciences; and

b) the elaboration and application of information-theoretic and computational methodologies to philosophical problems. PI attempts to provide a unified, explanatory theory of what information is, not a quantitative theory of data communication (information theory). On the theoretical side, for example, it includes the philosophy of AI and computing. From an environmental perspective, it legislates on what may count as information and how information should be adequately created and manipulated (information ethics).

For more information, see "What is the Philosophy of Information?", a paper published in Metaphilosophy, http://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/~floridi/pdf/wipi.pdf

This special issue of Minds and Machines provides the opportunity to researchers in different fields to submit papers in the following areas

• metatheoretical issues concerning the foundation of PI;
• methodological aspects of PI;
• the information-turn in philosophy;
• issues in specific areas of PI, such as the philosophy of AI, computational philosophy of science, information-theoretic approaches to epistemology, philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, computer ethics and hypertext theory, conceptual analysis of key issues in PI etc.

Instructions for Authors are available from Kluwer

Inquiries and papers can be sent to: Luciano Floridi