A Unified Account of Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation

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A Unified Account of Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation. / Søe, Sille Obelitz.

In: Synthese - An international journal for epistemology, methodology and philosophy of science, Vol. 198, 2021, p. 5929-5949.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Søe, SO 2021, 'A Unified Account of Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation', Synthese - An international journal for epistemology, methodology and philosophy of science, vol. 198, pp. 5929-5949. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02444-x

APA

Søe, S. O. (2021). A Unified Account of Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation. Synthese - An international journal for epistemology, methodology and philosophy of science, 198, 5929-5949. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02444-x

Vancouver

Søe SO. A Unified Account of Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation. Synthese - An international journal for epistemology, methodology and philosophy of science. 2021;198:5929-5949. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02444-x

Author

Søe, Sille Obelitz. / A Unified Account of Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation. In: Synthese - An international journal for epistemology, methodology and philosophy of science. 2021 ; Vol. 198. pp. 5929-5949.

Bibtex

@article{9a31ec656a794c4a9c671329fb200687,
title = "A Unified Account of Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation",
abstract = "In this paper I develop and present a unified account of information, misinformation, and disinformation and their interconnections. The unified account is rooted in Paul Grice{\textquoteright}s notions of natural and non-natural meaning (in: Grice (ed) Studies in the way of words. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 213–223, 1957) and a corresponding distinction between natural and non-natural information (Scarantino and Piccinini in Metaphilosophy 41(3):313–330, 2010). I argue that we can specify at least three specific kinds of non-natural information. Thus, as varieties of non-natural information there is intentionally non-misleading information, unintentionally misleading information—i.e. misinformation—and intentionally misleading information—i.e. disinformation. By shifting the focus from the truth-values of content to the intention/intentionality and misleadingness/non-misleadingness of that content I obtain a unified account that makes room for the potential misleadingness of true content (true disinformation), the potential non-misleadingness of false content (irony), and everything in between.",
author = "S{\o}e, {Sille Obelitz}",
year = "2021",
doi = "10.1007/s11229-019-02444-x",
language = "English",
volume = "198",
pages = "5929--5949",
journal = "Synthese",
issn = "0039-7857",
publisher = "Springer",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - A Unified Account of Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation

AU - Søe, Sille Obelitz

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - In this paper I develop and present a unified account of information, misinformation, and disinformation and their interconnections. The unified account is rooted in Paul Grice’s notions of natural and non-natural meaning (in: Grice (ed) Studies in the way of words. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 213–223, 1957) and a corresponding distinction between natural and non-natural information (Scarantino and Piccinini in Metaphilosophy 41(3):313–330, 2010). I argue that we can specify at least three specific kinds of non-natural information. Thus, as varieties of non-natural information there is intentionally non-misleading information, unintentionally misleading information—i.e. misinformation—and intentionally misleading information—i.e. disinformation. By shifting the focus from the truth-values of content to the intention/intentionality and misleadingness/non-misleadingness of that content I obtain a unified account that makes room for the potential misleadingness of true content (true disinformation), the potential non-misleadingness of false content (irony), and everything in between.

AB - In this paper I develop and present a unified account of information, misinformation, and disinformation and their interconnections. The unified account is rooted in Paul Grice’s notions of natural and non-natural meaning (in: Grice (ed) Studies in the way of words. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 213–223, 1957) and a corresponding distinction between natural and non-natural information (Scarantino and Piccinini in Metaphilosophy 41(3):313–330, 2010). I argue that we can specify at least three specific kinds of non-natural information. Thus, as varieties of non-natural information there is intentionally non-misleading information, unintentionally misleading information—i.e. misinformation—and intentionally misleading information—i.e. disinformation. By shifting the focus from the truth-values of content to the intention/intentionality and misleadingness/non-misleadingness of that content I obtain a unified account that makes room for the potential misleadingness of true content (true disinformation), the potential non-misleadingness of false content (irony), and everything in between.

U2 - 10.1007/s11229-019-02444-x

DO - 10.1007/s11229-019-02444-x

M3 - Journal article

VL - 198

SP - 5929

EP - 5949

JO - Synthese

JF - Synthese

SN - 0039-7857

ER -

ID: 228730661