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surplus information

📖 Definitions

"Between two agents, one may know some things about several topics, and the other may know some other things about several topics, half of which the latter may share with the former in a complex web such that there are topics where one has more information about a few things and the other about a few others. Given that the two agents are humans (let us call them Alice and Burhan), we know that they may also formulate new information from what they already possess. Suppose regarding the chess player Mikhail Tal, both agents have the information that (a) he was from Riga. Alice, however, also knows that (b) Riga is a part of Latvia. Alice may then conclude, inferring by deduction, that (c) Mikhail Tal was also Latvian. In our case, Alice has more information than Burhan about the topic ‘S.’ This is surplus information.” (Bagwala 2024, 6).

🔗 Relations

📚 References

  • Bagwala, Abbas. 2024. “On Informational Injustice and Epistemic Exclusions.” Synthese 203 (6): 194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-024-04636-6.