An Epistemology of Noise

by Cecile Malaspina, Ray Brassier

Overview

What do we understand 'noise' to be?

The term 'noise' no longer suggests only aesthetic judgement, as in acoustic or visual noise, and is now relevant to domains as varied as communication theory, physics and biology. This trans-disciplinary usage leads to confusion and complication, and reveals that the question of noise is a properly philosophical problem.

Presenting an analysis of the rising interest in the notion of noise, this book investigates if there can be a coherent understanding of what it is, that can be effectively shared among the natural and human sciences, technology and the arts. Drawing the philosophical consequences of noise for the theory of knowledge, Malaspina undertakes a philosophical revaluation of Shannon and Weaver's theory of 'information entropy'; this forms the basis upon which to challenge the common idea that noise can be reduced to notions of error, disorder or disorganization. The wider consequences of this analysis relate the technological and scientific aspect of noise, with its cultural and psycho-social aspects. At the heart of Malaspina's argument is the contestation of the ground upon which we judge and distinguish noise from information and finally the exploration of its emancipatory potential.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350141766
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/28/2019
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.53(d)

About the Author

Cecile Malaspina is a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art, UK. She is the translator of G. Simondon's On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects, (forthcoming), and, together with Michael Zimmermann, of E. Morin's Methode II (forthcoming).

Table of Contents

Preface by Ray Brassier
Introduction: Noise, a Philosophical Problem

Part I: Technological and Scientific Aspects of 'Noise' and their Relevance for the Theory of Knowledge

Chapter I: Noise and Information
A. Information as a Relation of Uncertainty
B. Entropy and Redundancy
C. Physical Entropy as 'Information Potential'
Chapter II: Noise and Information Potential
A. Negative Entropy
B. Complexity
C. Cosmic Background Noise
Chapter III: Noise and the Power of Prediction
A. Statistics: the Discipline of the Prince
B. The Paradox of the Information Society
C. Philosophical Consequences: a Culture of Doubt

Part II: The Experience of 'Noise': From the Object of Cognition to 'Noise' in the Process of Cognition
Chapter I: Noise Pollution
A. The Objective Definition of Noise
B. Noise as Object of Cognition and Noise in the Process of Cognition
Chapter II: The Mental State of Noise
A. Internal Chaos, Terror and Confusion
B. The Negative Capability
C. The Catastrophic Reaction and its Philosophical Relevance

Part III: The Subject of 'Noise' and the Power to Judge
Chapter I: Control and Judgement in the Alcibiades Dialogue
A. The Helmsman Metaphor and Noise as Nausea
B. The Cybernetics of the Just Act
Chapter II: The Ground of Judgement
A. From Self to Subject
B. Norms and Normativity
C. Error

Conclusion: 'Noise' as the Ground for an Emancipative Philosophy

Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

The chapters that form this book are like cuts in a diamond, the precision of which is a thing of beauty. Bringing presuppositions to the fore, little is taken for granted when approaching noise and how to understand it. This is a philosophy of noise that is ultimately freeing and demands to be shared.

The received view that we now live in information societies obscures a more unsettling premise. For noise is not just intrinsic to information: as Cecile Malaspina contends, noise is rather the very basis of information. Information societies are then noise societies. This startling insight requires the resetting-or rather the upsetting- of basic categories across the board: for communication, sound, physics, biology, social organisation and, as Malaspina argues, of categorization itself. Noise is therefore primary and significant, yet its theorization is a demanding and necessarily transdisciplinary task. Epistemology of Noise attends to that task with rigour and precision. As such, Malaspina has written an establishing text for a new uncontainable field of noise studies.

This is one of the freshest intellectual works I have read in recent years. If you did not previously recognize the philosophical significance of Claude Shannon, Warren Weaver, and Norbert Wiener, you will after reading this book. Shannon's paradoxical claim that information and noise are both forms of entropy is revived by Malaspina and developed with ideas drawn from Gilbert Simondon and Nicholas of Cusa. The result is a challenging and compelling experience for the reader, who will want to study this book multiple times.

From the Publisher