[Arisbe] Re: Inquiry Into Information

[Jon Awbrey]

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| Thus the process of information disturbs the relations
| of extension and comprehension for a moment and the
| class which results from the equivalence of two
| others has a greater intension than one and
| a greater extension than the other.  Hence,
| we may conveniently alter the formula for the
| relations of extension and comprehension;  thus,
| instead of saying that one is the reciprocal of
| the other, or
|
| comprehension  x  extension  =  constant,
|
| we may say
|
| comprehension  x  extension  =  information.
|
| We see then that all symbols besides their denotative and connotative objects have another;
| their informative object.  The denotative object is the total of possible things denoted.
| The connotative object is the total of symbols translated or implied.  The informative
| object is the total of forms manifested and is measured by the amount of intension the
| term has, over and above what is necessary for limiting its extension.  For example,
| the denotative object of 'man' is such collections of matter the word knows while it
| knows them, i.e., while they are organized.  The connotative object of 'man' is the
| total form which the word expresses.  The informative object of 'man' is the total
| fact which it embodies;  or the value of the conception which is its equivalent
| symbol.
|
| CSP, CE 1, page 276.
|
| Charles Sanders Peirce, "Harvard Lectures 'On the Logic of Science'", (1865),
|'Writings of Charles S. Peirce: A Chronological Edition, Volume 1, 1857-1866',
| Peirce Edition Project, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, 1982.

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