Contribution to the Ontological Status of Information: Development of the Structural-Attributive Approach

This paper proposes to appeal to the structural-attributive approach to help establish a useful ontological categorization of information. Specifically, it argues that a framework for library and information science (LIS) based on Stonier’s theory of information would be helpful, with the intention to advance one of the unfinished dialogues of LIS, the so-called Wiener’s problem, or statutum ontologicum. This proposal advocates the possibility of developing a theory based on the assumption that information is a basic property of the universe. Stonier’s perspective is an evolutionary type, so the basis of this research is interdisciplinary, such that his ideas can help describe the development of society in the information age. It also explains the two main categories or forms of information, which Stonier called “applied,” for the library scope. In other words, there are the information contained in a system and the transformed and processed information. He argues that information is an ontological category that exists independently of being perceived. This paper asserts that information characterizes the world in itself, since it is through it that all knowledge is obtained.