Information in a Physical World

How the Meaningless Becomes the Meaningful?

Liqian Zhou

$398.95 $319.42

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Routledge
08 September 2025

Philosophy of language; Library & information sciences; Philosophy of mind; Philosophy of science

To construct a comprehensive theory of information, meaning and intentionality, the book develops a naturalistic perspective based on Peircean biosemiotics. It re-examines key issues such as referential information, the metaphysics of form, misrepresentation, reference and sense, offering new explanations and insights.

It analyzes the notion of information conceptually, showing that it is not a simple concept, but rather comprises hierarchically nested aspects: Structural, referential and normative. By defining form negatively as a constraint, it offers a naturalistic account of structural information. It then addresses the normativity of referential relations through the concept of interpretation, introducing the notion of operational interpretation to explain the minimal normativity of reference. The book further argues that the three types of reference—symbolic, indexical and iconic—are asymmetrically interdependent: Symbolic reference depends on indexical reference, which in turn depends on iconic reference. This semiotic framework helps to resolve many long-standing problems in the philosophy of language. Finally, the book argues that convention is inherently a semiotic concept. As such, symbolic reference has two aspects of conventionality: The sign vehicle and the referential relation. This semiotic explanation offers a deeper understanding of real-world communication scenarios.

The book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of biology, philosophy of cognitive science, semiotics, biosemiotics and linguistics.

By: Liqian Zhou
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 440g
ISBN: 9781041097259
ISBN 10: 1041097255
Pages: 138
Publication Date: 08 September 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

1 Grounding meaning in information 2 A conceptual analysis of information 3 Information is physical (negatively) 4 Interpretation 5 Reference 6 Convention

Liqian Zhou is an associate professor of philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research interests include philosophy of information, philosophy of biology, philosophy of mind and cognition, and biosemiotics.