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Contents
1. Information and information flow
2. Defining information flow
There is no standard definition of "information
flow", and neither there is of "information".
Nevertheless, in ordinary life we seem to be in
agreement with the meanings of information and
information flow. A major problem is to know whether
information flow is a concept or a metaphor. Here we
are going to assume it is a concept.
While the concept of information is quite difficult to
grasp, a definition of information flow in terms of
information should not be that hard. Therefore, in this
entry we propose an informal definition of information
flow from the starting point of some elementary
concepts in a well-established theory of semantic
information: situation theory (Barwise and Perry 1983;
Barwise 1989; Devlin 1991).
1. Information and information flow
Situation theory distinguishes between information and
information flow (Devlin 1991: 142-144). The basic
assumption is that information is abstract and can be



used for classifying concrete states of affairs. On this
assumption is built up the following distinction:

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states, such as vectors, time periods or logical
formulae. We then say that the state of affairs
supports certain information. Example: we have
information about the waitress in that we know
that his hands are muddy.
There is flow of information from one state of
affairs to another as long as some way of
classifying the first one indicates some way of
classifying the second. Then we say that the first
state of affairs carries information about the
second one. Example: the fact that the waitress’
hands are muddy carries the information that my
plate is possibly muddy.

In theories prior to situation theory this distinction was

not always taken into account. Neither it is clearly

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stated in recent proposals like that of Floridi (2005). On

the other hand, whenever the flow of information is on
the focus two typical problems arise immediately:

Is it required the existence of agents for the flow

of information to take place? Usually this question
is answered in an affirmative manner. Situation
theory gives for granted their existence in despite
of some occasional debate on this matter. Channel
theory (Barwise and Seligman 1997), on the
contrary, doesn’t mention agents very frequently.
Dretske (1981) is not completely clear. On the
one hand he defines the flow of information
through the notion of an external observer: "A
state of affairs contains information about X to
just that extent of which a suitable placed
observer could learn something about X by
consulting it" (Dretske 1981: 45); on the other
hand, he states that information is an agent-
independent phenomenon. Floridi (2005)
distinguishes between semantic information
(which is agent-dependent) and environmental
information (which is agent-independent).
How to explain the properties of the flow of
information? Pérez-Montoro (2007) offers a
comprehensive discussion of both these
properties: relativity (the same state of affairs
might carry different pieces of information to
different agents), and fallibility (sometimes a
state of affairs do not carry the information it is
supposed to carry). Almost any author tries to
explain those properties, which in turn exhibit
different names as well as diverse formulations.

2. Defining information flow

Now then, neither in situation theory nor in further

theories information flow is defined as such. It is only
said that there is flow of information whenever some
states of affairs carry information about each other. A
definition of information flow must be therefore based
on the concept of information.

If we call "distributed system" to any collection of states

of affairs that are able of carrying information about
each other (Barwise and Seligman 1997), and we call
"information transfer" to the fact that -with respect to a
distributed system- a state of affairs actually informs
about another one, then we can define the flow of
information within a distributed system as the class of
all its information transfers with respect to certain
analysis of the system as well as certain period of time.
This definition has the advantage of conforming with
common sense and with some basic yet fundamental
concepts of situation theory.

References

BARWISE, J. (1989). The situation in logic.

Stanford: CSLI Publications.
BARWISE, J. & PERRY, J. (1983). Situations and
Attitudes. Cambridge, MA: Bradford Books / The
MIT Press.
BARWISE, J. & SELIGMAN, J. (1997). Information
Flow. The Logic of Distributed Systems.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
DEVLIN, K. (1991). Logic and Information.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
DRETSKE, F. (1981). Knowledge and the Flow of
Information. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
FLORIDI, L. (2005). Semantic Conceptions of
Information. [Online]. Stanford: Stanford

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Encyclopedia of Philosophy. [En línea]

<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/information-
semantic> [Consulted: 08/11/2009].
PÉREZ-MONTORO, M. (2007). The Phenomenon of
Information. A Conceptual Approach to
Information Flow. Medford, NJ: The Scarecrow
Press, Inc.

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