Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Observational Advantages: A Philosophical Discussion

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Diagrammatic Representation and Inference (Diagrams 2018)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 10871))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

I distinguish two kinds of observational advantages: (i) a given representation is observationally advantageous over another if a logical consequence of the information represented in it is observable in the former but only inferable from the latter; (ii) a given representation is observationally advantageous over another if a logical equivalence is observable in the former but only inferable from the latter. The paper also discusses the following question: observing (vs inferring) a piece of information in a given representation is an advantage if the purpose of the system of representation is to directly observe what could otherwise be inferred. But if the purpose were to infer what could be otherwise be observed, then one should conversely speak of observational disadvantages.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The type/token distinction was introduced by Peirce in his Syllabus of Logic for the Lowell Lectures delivered in 1903 ([2] §§2.255–272), and it has since then become canonic; cf. [3].

  2. 2.

    Example adapted from [4].

References

  1. Stapleton, G., Jamnik, M., Shimojima, A.: What makes an effective representation of information: a formal account of observational advantages. J. Logic Lang. Inf. 26(5), 143–177 (2017)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Peirce, C.S.: Collected Papers. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1933–1958)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Wetzel, L.: Types and tokens. In: Zalta, E.N. (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Spring 2014 edn. (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Howse, J., Molina, F., Shin, S.-J., Taylor, J.: On diagram tokens and types. In: Hegarty, M., Meyer, B., Narayanan, N.H. (eds.) Diagrams 2002. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 2317, pp. 146–160. Springer, Heidelberg (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46037-3_18

    Chapter  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Via Azzo Gardino 23, 40122, Bologna, Italy

    Francesco Bellucci

Authors
  1. Francesco Bellucci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesco Bellucci .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK

    Peter Chapman

  2. University of Brighton, Brighton, UK

    Gem Stapleton

  3. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    Amirouche Moktefi

  4. Mitre Corporation, McLean, VA, USA

    Sarah Perez-Kriz

  5. University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Francesco Bellucci

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Bellucci, F. (2018). Observational Advantages: A Philosophical Discussion. In: Chapman, P., Stapleton, G., Moktefi, A., Perez-Kriz, S., Bellucci, F. (eds) Diagrammatic Representation and Inference. Diagrams 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10871. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91376-6_30

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91376-6_30

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91375-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91376-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation