BITagora

Member of the Science Advisory Committee

John Collier received his Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Science from the University of Western Ontario in 1984. Currently, he is a Professor in the philosophy program at University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Institutional Affiliation

University of KwaZulu-Natal

Membership at the boards of scientific organisations in the field

Scientific Advisory Board, International Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Symmetry.

Scientific Advisory Board, Computing Anticipatory Systems.

Editorial Board, Entropy, An International and Interdisciplinary Journal of Entropy and Information Studies

Editorial Board, CCC (e-journal for cognition • communication • co-operation)

Editorial Board, Biological Theory

Consulting Editor, Cybernetics and Human Knowing

Scientific Board, Foundations of Information Science

Board and founding member, Science of Information Institute

Some Relevant Publications

Collier, John (2008) Information in biological systems. Handbook of Philosophy of Science, Volume 8, Philosophy of Information, eds. Pieter Adriaans and Johan van Benthem (Dordrecht: Elsevier): 763-787.

James Ladyman and Don Ross, with David Spurrett and John Collier (2007) Every Thing Must Go: Metaphysics Naturalized. Oxford: University of Oxford Press.

Collier, John (2005) Hierarchical Dynamical Information Systems With a Focus on Biology”, for Entropy, 5: 100-124.

Collier, John (2000) Information Theory as a General Language for Functional Systems. In: Computing Anticipatory Systems: CASY’99 – Third International Conference, edited by D. M. Dubois, American Institute of Physics, Melville, New York, AIP Conference Proceedings 517, pp. 124-130.

Collier, John (1999) The Dynamical Basis of Information and the Origins of Semiosis. In Edwina Taborsky (ed) Semiosis, Evolution, Energy: Towards a Reconceptualization of the Sign. Aachen Shaker Verlag 1999 Bochum Publications in Semiotics New Series. Vol. 3: 111-136.

Areas of Interest

Theory Change, Reference and Meaning, Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Ethics and Epistemology, Foundations of Information Theory, Metaphysics and Epistemology of Complex Systems, Causal processes, Dynamical Systems theory

Contact: collierj@ukzn.ac.za