«Theory of everything»: types of information and the theory of interpretation in «Philosophy of chance» by Stanisław Lem

Abstract

The article is focused on the S. Lem’s perspective of the literary work as a product of the reader’s apprehension of the text in the culture discourse. The aim of the research is to describe the Lem’s view on the structure of the text; Lem’s encounter as a writer, a reader, and a philosopher is used to state the conditions and characteristics of the text interpretation. By the means of multiple introspection the author of “Philosophy of chance” devotes his research to the explanation of his model of the literary work as a product of the social-cultural existence. Moreover, the author’s aim is to state the characteristics of the text creation and interpretation. Therefore, the research shows a new, “cybernetic” approach to the text interpretation based on the comparison between the text structural characteristics and the rules of the mathematical theory of probability and the theory of information. The futurological view lies in the hypothesis about the text as a “self-learning program” (also known as a neuronet) which can transform due to the developing conditions of the interpretation process. As a matter of fact, S. Lem highlights two types of information: selective and structural. Both types might be identified in the text, but that depends on the reader, his encounter and expertise.