Online Resources

This is a list of Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entries that I will (continue to) utilize in my research. I will update occasionally.


The Philosophy of Mind


Culture, Memetics and Evolutionary Theory


Semantics, Logic and Information


Knowledge and Method



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Dennett on Semantic Information and Shannon Information

In his recent book,   From Bacteria to Bach and Back  (2017), Dennett utilizes memetics to develop his ideas on consciousness. I haven't finished it yet. I paused after 120 or so pages, because I have concerns with his preliminary discussion of information.There are areas where I agree with Dennett, but I have problems with his discussion of both Shannon information and semantic information. The problems with the latter are unfortunately predictable given Dennett's longstanding approach to intentionality.  I. Shannon Information In a chapter entitled "What is Information?,” Dennett follows a seventy-year tradition of making a strong distinction between semantic information and Shannon information. Here is how Claude Shannon (" A Mathematical Theory of Communication ," 1948) introduces the distinction:  The fundamental problem of communication is that of reproducing at one point either exactly or approximately a message selected at another point.   Frequently the
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Notes on Kripke, "Naming and Necessity," Lecture 2

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