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Systems of Communication: Information, Explanation, and Imagination

Systems of Communication: Information, Explanation, and Imagination

Peter Murphy
Copyright: © 2013 |Pages: 16
ISBN13: 9781466639980|ISBN10: 1466639989|EISBN13: 9781466639997
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-3998-0.ch006
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MLA

Murphy, Peter. "Systems of Communication: Information, Explanation, and Imagination." Multidisciplinary Studies in Knowledge and Systems Science, edited by Guangfei Yang, IGI Global, 2013, pp. 63-78. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-3998-0.ch006

APA

Murphy, P. (2013). Systems of Communication: Information, Explanation, and Imagination. In G. Yang (Ed.), Multidisciplinary Studies in Knowledge and Systems Science (pp. 63-78). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-3998-0.ch006

Chicago

Murphy, Peter. "Systems of Communication: Information, Explanation, and Imagination." In Multidisciplinary Studies in Knowledge and Systems Science, edited by Guangfei Yang, 63-78. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2013. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-3998-0.ch006

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Abstract

Three fundamental systems of communication are defined: information, explanation, and imagination. Information is based on analytic distinctions between objects in the world. Explanatory communication provides knowledge through discourse, narration, logic, rhetoric and other forms of systemic elaboration. Intellectual discovery relies on a third system of communication, that of imagination. Rather than distinction or elaboration, imagination is rooted in intuition and analogy. The most powerful medium of the imagination is antonymous insight. The article discusses examples of the latter from warfare, politics, and science.

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