Interpreting the nature and non‐classical characteristics of information: a labyrinth of research approaches on the threshold of the 21st century

Relevance. The current lack of a comprehensive theory of the knowledge society – a society, in which knowledge and information are dominant resources. These are the logical constructs, on which the theory of the knowledge society is based. Aim. To compare a number of scientific approaches to the study of knowledge and information, to identify the degree and scale of their identity and difference. Methods. Analogy and forecasting, the method of analogical transfer, complex systems methodology and the methodology of predictive analysis. Result. The authors have revealed the difference between the attributive and functional (functional‐cybernetic) concepts of information. They revealed the role of ideas presented in the informology segment and contributing to the intensive development of information theory. The author adopts a point of view, the essence of which is that the philosophical basis of informology allows raising the study of the phenomenon of information to the level of studying information reality and the laws of information genesis. The article pays special attention to the information‐knowledge approach, which allows us to clarify the concept of socio‐informational reality as a semiotic environment and semiotic space that form meanings for the subject. Knowledge is always inextricably linked with the subject, who discovers it and applies it in various conditions and contexts: when used in different situations, knowledge acquires new meanings. However, when knowledge becomes autonomous and separates from the subject, it loses its dynamism and depth of meaning, turning into information.