Formal epistemology
Encyclopedia
Formal epistemology uses formal methods from decision theory
, logic
, probability theory
and computability theory
to elucidate epistemic problems. Work in this area spans several academic fields, including philosophy
, computer science
, economics
, and statistics
. The focus of formal epistemology has tended to differ somewhat from that of traditional epistemology, with topics like uncertainty, induction, and belief revision garnering more attention than the analysis of knowledge, skepticism, and issues with justification.
and probability theory (if not earlier), only recently have they been organized under a common disciplinary title. This gain in popularity may be attributed to the organization of yearly Formal Epistemology Workshops by Branden Fitelson and Sahotra Sarkar
, starting in 2004, and the recent PHILOG-conferences starting in 2002 (The Network for Philosophical Logic and Its Applications) organized by Vincent F. Hendricks
. Carnegie Mellon University's Philosophy Department hosts an annual summer school in logic and formal epistemology. In 2010, the department founded the Center for Formal Epistemology.
Decision theory
Decision theory in economics, psychology, philosophy, mathematics, and statistics is concerned with identifying the values, uncertainties and other issues relevant in a given decision, its rationality, and the resulting optimal decision...
, logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
, probability theory
Probability theory
Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with analysis of random phenomena. The central objects of probability theory are random variables, stochastic processes, and events: mathematical abstractions of non-deterministic events or measured quantities that may either be single...
and computability theory
Computability theory
Computability theory, also called recursion theory, is a branch of mathematical logic that originated in the 1930s with the study of computable functions and Turing degrees. The field has grown to include the study of generalized computability and definability...
to elucidate epistemic problems. Work in this area spans several academic fields, including philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, and statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
. The focus of formal epistemology has tended to differ somewhat from that of traditional epistemology, with topics like uncertainty, induction, and belief revision garnering more attention than the analysis of knowledge, skepticism, and issues with justification.
History
Though formally oriented epistemologists have been laboring since the emergence of formal logicFormal logic
Classical or traditional system of determining the validity or invalidity of a conclusion deduced from two or more statements...
and probability theory (if not earlier), only recently have they been organized under a common disciplinary title. This gain in popularity may be attributed to the organization of yearly Formal Epistemology Workshops by Branden Fitelson and Sahotra Sarkar
Sahotra Sarkar
Sahotra Sarkar is a philosophy professor and integrative biologist at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a noted critic of creationism and intelligent design. Sarkar is originally from India. He is the author of several books and articles about philosophy and science...
, starting in 2004, and the recent PHILOG-conferences starting in 2002 (The Network for Philosophical Logic and Its Applications) organized by Vincent F. Hendricks
Vincent F. Hendricks
Vincent Fella Hendricks , is a Danish philosopher and logician. He holds two doctoral degrees in philosophy and is Professor of Formal Philosophy at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He was previously Professor of Formal Philosophy at Roskilde University, Denmark. He is member of IIP, the...
. Carnegie Mellon University's Philosophy Department hosts an annual summer school in logic and formal epistemology. In 2010, the department founded the Center for Formal Epistemology.
Topics
Some of the topics that come under the heading of formal epistemology include:- Ampliative inference (including inductive logic);
- Game theoryGame theoryGame theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
and decision theory; - Algorithmic learning theoryAlgorithmic learning theoryAlgorithmic learning theory is a framework for machine learning.The framework was introduced in E. Mark Gold's seminal paper "Language identification in the limit"...
(computational epistemologyComputational epistemologyComputational epistemology is a subdiscipline of formal epistemology that studies the intrinsic complexity of inductive problems for ideal and computationally bounded agents...
); - Formal approaches to paradoxes of belief and/or action;
- Formal models of epistemic states, like beliefBeliefBelief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....
and uncertaintyUncertaintyUncertainty is a term used in subtly different ways in a number of fields, including physics, philosophy, statistics, economics, finance, insurance, psychology, sociology, engineering, and information science...
; - Formal models of rationalityRationalityIn philosophy, rationality is the exercise of reason. It is the manner in which people derive conclusions when considering things deliberately. It also refers to the conformity of one's beliefs with one's reasons for belief, or with one's actions with one's reasons for action...
constraints on belief and changes in belief; - Formal theories of coherentismCoherentismThere are two distinct types of coherentism. One refers to the coherence theory of truth. The other refers to the coherence theory of justification. The coherentist theory of justification characterizes epistemic justification as a property of a belief only if that belief is a member of a coherent...
and confirmation; - Foundations of probability and statistics.
List of contemporary formal epistemologists
- Horacio Arló-Costa, Carnegie Mellon, Philosophy (Bayesian epistemology, epistemic logic, belief revision, conditionals, rational choice, normative and behavioral decision theory)
- Luc BovensLuc BovensDr Luc Bovens is a Belgian professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics, and former editor of Economics and Philosophy. His main areas of research are moral and political philosophy, philosophy of economics, philosophy of public policy, Bayesian epistemology, rational choice theory,...
(Bayesian epistemology, probability, etc) - Samir Chopra (belief revision, physics, etc)
- Jake Chandler (Bayesian epistemology, belief revision, etc.)
- John Collins Columbia, Philosophy (belief revision, causal decision theory)
- Franz Dietrich (collective decision-making, etc.)
- Trent Dougherty (Jeffrey's radical probabilism, semantics for modals, theories of probability)
- Igor Douven (Bayesian epistemology, etc.)
- Ellery Eells (confirmation, probability)
- Adam Elga (probabilistic reasoning, laws, etc)
- Branden Fitelson (confirmation, logic, etc)
- Malcolm Forster (confirmation, simplicity, causation)
- Haim Gaifman Columbia, Philosophy (foundations of probability, mathematical logic)
- Anthony Gillies (belief revision, formal semantics)
- Mario Gómez-Torrente
- Alan Hájek (foundations of probability, decision theory, etc.)
- Joseph HalpernJoseph HalpernJoseph Yehuda Halpern is a professor of computer science at Cornell University. Most of his research is on reasoning about knowledge and uncertainty....
(reasoning about knowledge and uncertainty) - Sven Ove HanssonSven Ove HanssonSven Ove Hansson is a professor of philosophy and chair of the Department of Philosophy and History of Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden...
(risk, decision theory, belief revision, deontic logic) - Gilbert HarmanGilbert HarmanGilbert Harman is a contemporary American philosopher, teaching at Princeton University, who has published widely in linguistics, semantics, cognitive science, philosophy of mind, ethics, moral psychology, epistemology, statistical learning theory, and metaphysics. He and George Miller...
(epistemology, statistical learning theory, mind and language) - Stephan Hartmann (Bayesian epistemology, probability, collective decision-making, etc.)
- James Hawthorne (confirmation theory, inductive logic, belief revision, nonmonotonic logic)
- Jeff Helzner Columbia, Philosophy (decision theory, rational choice)
- Vincent F. HendricksVincent F. HendricksVincent Fella Hendricks , is a Danish philosopher and logician. He holds two doctoral degrees in philosophy and is Professor of Formal Philosophy at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He was previously Professor of Formal Philosophy at Roskilde University, Denmark. He is member of IIP, the...
(epistemic logic, formal epistemology) - Franz Huber (formal epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophical logic)
- Richard JeffreyRichard JeffreyRichard C. Jeffrey was an American philosopher, logician, and probability theorist. He was a native of Boston, Massachusetts....
(probabilistic reasoning) - James Joyce (decision theory)
- Kevin T. Kelly, Carnegie Mellon, Philosophy (computational epistemology, belief revision, etc)
- Matthew Kotzen (formal epistemology, philosophy of science)
- Marion Ledwig (Newcomb's problem)
- Hannes Leitgeb (belief revision, probability, Bayesianism, etc.)
- Isaac LeviIsaac LeviIsaac Levi is the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Columbia University. Levi came onto the philosophic scene with his groundbreaking first book, Gambling with Truth. In the text Levi offers a decision theoretic reconstruction of epistemology with a close-eye towards the classical...
Columbia, Philosophy (belief revision, decision theory, probability) - Patrick Maher (confirmation, inductive logic)
- David Miller (probability, induction, logic, Popper)
- Luca Moretti (confirmation, coherence, transmission of warrant, epistemic truth)
- Daniel Osherson (inductive logic, reasoning, vagueness)
- Rohit Parikh CUNY, Computer Science (epistemic logicEpistemic logicEpistemic modal logic is a subfield of modal logic that is concerned with reasoning about knowledge. While epistemology has a long philosophical tradition dating back to Ancient Greece, epistemic logic is a much more recent development with applications in many fields, including philosophy,...
, common knowledgeCommon knowledgeCommon knowledge is knowledge that is known by everyone or nearly everyone, usually with reference to the community in which the term is used. Common knowledge need not concern one specific subject, e.g., science or history. Rather, common knowledge can be about a broad range of subjects, including...
) - Gabriella Pigozzi (belief revision, decision theory)
- John Pollock (decision theory, reasoning, AI)
- Darrell Rowbottom (foundations of probability, confirmation, philosophy of science, etc.)
- Teddy Seidenfeld Carnegie Mellon, Philosophy (statistical decision theory, probability theory, game theory)
- Wolfgang Spohn (reasoning, probability, causation, philosophy of science, etc)
- Paul Thorn (direct inference, defeasible reasoning, induction, etc)
- Peter Vranas (confirmation, deontic logic, time travel, ethics, etc)
- Gregory WheelerGregory WheelerGregory Wheeler is an American logician, philosopher, and computer scientist, who specializes in formal epistemology. Much of his work has focused on imprecise probability...
(probability, logic) - Roger White (confirmation, cosmology)
- Jon Williamson (Bayesianism, probability, causation)
- Timothy WilliamsonTimothy WilliamsonTimothy Williamson is a British philosopher whose main research interests are in philosophical logic, philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics....
(knowledge, modality, logic, vagueness, etc) - David Wolpert (No Free Lunch theoremNo free lunch theoremIn mathematical folklore, the "no free lunch" theorem of Wolpert and Macready appears in the 1997 "No Free Lunch Theorems for Optimization." Wolpert had previously derived no free lunch theorems for machine learning...
s, i.e., Hume done rigorously; physics and inference, i.e., monotheism theorems, Chomsky hierarchy of inference devices, etc.)
See also
- Algorithmic learning theoryAlgorithmic learning theoryAlgorithmic learning theory is a framework for machine learning.The framework was introduced in E. Mark Gold's seminal paper "Language identification in the limit"...
- Belief revisionBelief revisionBelief revision is the process of changing beliefs to take into account a new piece of information. The logical formalization of belief revision is researched in philosophy, in databases, and in artificial intelligence for the design of rational agents....
- Computability theoryComputability theoryComputability theory, also called recursion theory, is a branch of mathematical logic that originated in the 1930s with the study of computable functions and Turing degrees. The field has grown to include the study of generalized computability and definability...
- Computational learning theoryComputational learning theoryIn theoretical computer science, computational learning theory is a mathematical field related to the analysis of machine learning algorithms.-Overview:Theoretical results in machine learning mainly deal with a type of...
- Game theoryGame theoryGame theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
- Inductive logic
External links
- Formal Epistemology Workshop
- Formal Epistemology Meets Experimental Philosophy Workshop
- Formal Epistemology Archive
- Carnegie Mellon Summer School in Logic and Formal Epistemology
- Formal Philosophy
- Formal Epistemology, a free online journal.
- The Reasoner
- Formal Epistemology Project
- Carnegie Mellon Center for Formal Epistemology