Formal epistemology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Formal epistemology is a subdiscipline of epistemology that utilizes formal methods from logic, probability theory and computability theory to elucidate traditional epistemic problems.

1 Topics
2 History
3 Contemporary Formal Epistemologists
4 References
5 External links
6 See also

[edit] Topics

Some of the topics that come under the heading of formal epistemology include:

Ampliative inference (including inductive logic);
Game theory and decision theory;
Algorithmic learning theory (computational epistemology);
Formal theories of coherence;
Foundations of probability and statistics;
Formal approaches to paradoxes of belief and/or action.

[edit] History

Though formally oriented epistemologists have been laboring since the emergence of formal logic (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.

[edit] Contemporary Formal Epistemologists

Horacio Arló-Costa (epistemic logic, belief revision, conditionals)
Luc Bovens (Bayesian epistemology, probability, etc)
Darren Bradley (Sleeping Beauty, Doomsday, etc)
Samir Chopra (belief revision, physics, etc)
John Collins (knowledge, causation, vagueness, etc.)
Franz Dietrich (collective decision-making, etc)
Ellery Eells (confirmation, probability)
Adam Elga (probabilistic reasoning, laws, etc)
Branden Fitelson (confirmation, logic, etc)
Malcolm Forster (confirmation, simplicity, causation)
Anthony Gillies (belief revision, formal semantics)
Joseph Halpern (reasoning about knowledge and uncertainty)
Sven Ove Hansson (risk, decision theory, belief revision, deontic logic)
Gilbert Harman (epistemology, statistical learning theory, mind and language)
Stephan Hartmann (Bayesian epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of physics, social choice theory)
James Hawthorne (confirmation, belief revision, inductive logic, etc)
Vincent F. Hendricks (epistemic logic, formal epistemology)
Franz Huber (formal epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophical logic)
Richard Jeffrey (probabilistic reasoning)
James Joyce (decision theory)
Kevin T. Kelly (computational epistemology, belief revision, etc)
Marion Ledwig (Newcomb's problem)
Isaac Levi (belief revision)
Patrick Maher (confirmation, inductive logic)
David Miller (probability, induction, logic, Popper)
Luca Moretti (confirmation, coherence)
Daniel Osherson (inductive logic, reasoning, vagueness)
Gabriella Pigozzi (belief revision, decision theory)
John Pollock (decision theory, reasoning, AI)
Wolfgang Spohn (reasoning, probability, causation, philosophy of science, etc)
Peter Vranas (confirmation, deontic logic, time travel, ethics, etc)
Gregory Wheeler (statistical reasoning, default logic, etc)
Roger White (confirmation, cosmology)
Jon Williamson (Bayesianism, probability, causation)
Timothy Williamson (knowledge, modality, logic, vagueness, etc)

[edit] References

Bovens, L. and Hartmann, S. (2003). Bayesian Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hendricks, V. F. (2001). The Convergence of Scientific Knowledge: A View from The Limit. Dordrect: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Hendricks, V. F. (2006). Mainstream and Formal Epistemology. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hendricks, V. F. (ed.) (2006). Special issue on “8 Bridges Between Mainstream and Formal Epistemology”, Philosophical Studies.
Hendricks, V. F. (ed.) (2006). Special issue on “Ways of Worlds I-II”, Studia Logica.
Hendricks, V.F. and Pritchard, D. (eds.) (2006). New Waves in Epistemology. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Hendricks, V. F. and Symons, J. (eds.) (2005). Formal Philosophy. New York: Automatic Press / VIP. [1]
Hendricks, V. F. and Symons, J. (eds.) (2006). Masses of Formal Philosophy. New York: Automatic Press / VIP. [2]
Hendricks, V. F. and Hansen, P.G. (eds.) (2007). Game Theory: 5 Questions. New York: Automatic Press / VIP. [3]
Hendricks, V.F. and Symons, J. (2006). Epistemic Logic. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford. CA: USA.