A Philosophy of Data

Abstract: We argue that while this discourse on data ethics is of critical importance, it is missing one fundamental point: If more and more efforts in business, government, science, and our daily lives are data-driven, we should pay more attention to what exactly we are driven by. Therefore, we need more debate on what fundamental properties constitute data. In the first section of the paper, we work from the fundamental properties necessary for statistical computation to a definition of statistical data. We define a statistical datum as the coming together of substantive and numerical properties and differentiate between qualitative and quantitative data. Subsequently, we qualify our definition by arguing that for data to be practically useful, it needs to be commensurable in a manner that reveals meaningful differences that allow for the generation of relevant insights through statistical methodologies. In the second section, we focus on what our conception of data can contribute to the discourse on data ethics and beyond. First, we hold that the need for useful data to be commensurable rules out an understanding of properties as fundamentally unique or equal. Second, we argue that practical concerns lead us to increasingly standardize how we operationalize a substantive property; in other words, how we formalize the relationship between the substantive and numerical properties of data. Thereby, we also standardize the interpretation of a property. With our increasing reliance on data and data technologies, these two characteristics of data affect our collective conception of reality. Statistical data's exclusion of the fundamentally unique and equal influences our perspective on the world, and the standardization of substantive properties can be viewed as profound ontological practice, entrenching ever more pervasive interpretations of phenomena in our everyday lives.