This is the first logically precise, computationally implementable, book-length account of rational belief revision.
It explains how a rational agent ought to proceed when adopting a new
belief-a difficult matter if the new belief contradicts the agents old
beliefs.
Belief systems are patterned as finite dependency systems. So it's possible to attend not just to exactly what the agent thinks, but additionally to the range of reasons the agent has for thus thinking. The computational complexity from the revision issue is indicated. Calculations for belief revision are developed, and implemented in Prolog. The implementation tests well on a variety of simple belief-revision issues that pose a number of challenges for just about any account of belief revision.
The idea of 'minimal mutilation' of the belief product is explicated precisely for situations once the agent is confronted with conflicting values. The suggested revision techniques are invariant across different global justificatory structures (foundationalist, coherentist, etc.). They respect the intuition that, when studying a person's values, you ought to not hold onto any thought that has lost its former justifications. The limitation to finite dependency systems is proven to not compromise theoretical generality.
The book ends by comparing and contrasting the new account with some
major representatives of earlier alternative approaches, from the fields
of formal epistemology, artificial intelligence and mathematical logic.
English | 2012 | ISBN: 0199655758 | ISBN-13: 9780199655755 | 368 pages | PDF | 15 MB
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