Logic and Information

Paperback edition of ground-breaking new theory of information processing.

Keith Devlin (Author)

9780521499712, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 29 September 1995

328 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.48 kg

'The ideas in this fascinating, challenging, but speculative book are set forth with clarity and wit that does them justice.' D. V. Feldman, Choice

Intelligence can be characterised both as the ability to absorb and process information and as the ability to reason. Humans and other animals have both of these abilities to a greater or lesser degree, but the search for artificial intelligence has been hampered by our inability to create a theory that covers both of these characteristics. In this provocative and ground-breaking book, Professor Keith Devlin argues that to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of intelligence and knowledge acquisition, we must broaden our concept of logic. For these purposes, Devlin introduces the concept of the infon, a quantum of information, and merges it with situations, a mathematical construction generalising the notion of sets developed by Barwise and Perry at Stanford University in order to study the meaning of natural languages. He develops and describes the theory here in general and intuitive terms, and discusses its relevance to a variety of concerns such as artificial intelligence, cognition, natural language and communication.

1. Logic
2. Information
3. Situation theory
4. Meaning and constraints
5. Some logical issues
6. Mental states
7. Perception and action
8. Situation semantics
9. Topics in situation semantics
10. Historical perspectives and future directions.

Subject Areas: Artificial intelligence [UYQ], Databases [UN]