The occasion for this work was provided by the recent Marxist-Leninist
philosophic pUblications on problems involving the term 'information'
and by the extensive discussions of ideas originating in cybernetics.
Thus, the issues are quite recent, which explains some peculiarities of
our ap- proach. Our main effort has been toward the clarification and
systematiza- tion of questions on information, which arise in the
context of cybernetics. Where basic questions are involved, one is
brought back to traditional issues as is often the case when dealing
with a novel subject. Stress on questions drawn from physics is due to
the author's professional involve- ment in this field. This work was
written under the direction of Professor J. M. Bochenski, principally in
the context of a special program at the Institute of East- European
Studies of the University of Fribourg (Switzerland); a program carried
out by Professor Bochenski with the collaboration of Dr. S.
Muller-Markus. Participation in the special program was made possible by
a grant from the West German 'Innenministerium'. Completion of the work
was subsidized by the Bundesinstitut fUr ostwissenschaftliche und
internationale Studien in Cologne. Our thanks go to these persons and
organisations, who are in no way responsible for the content of the
work. Givisiez, May 1967 TRANSLATOR'S NOTE Although we have made use of
the works of Cherry and MacKay, cited in the bibliography, our
translation of many terms may still seem some- what arbitrary to some
readers. The explanation for this is threefold.