Mild Contraction: Evaluating Loss of Information Due to Loss of Belief
Oxford University Press (2004)
| Abstract | Isaac Levi's new book develops further his pioneering work in formal epistemology, focusing on the problem of belief contraction, or how rationally to relinquish old beliefs. Levi offers the most penetrating analysis to date of this key question in epistemology, offering a completely new solution and explaining its relation to his earlier proposals. He mounts an argument in favor of the thesis that contracting a state of belief by giving up specific beliefs is to be evaluated in terms of the value of the information lost by doing so. The rationale aims to be thoroughly decision theoretic. Levi spells out his goals and shows that certain types of recommendations are obtained if one seeks to promote these goals. He compares his approach to his earlier account of inductive expansion. The recommendations are for "mild contractions." These are formally the same as the "severe withdrawals" considered by Pagnucco and Rott. The rationale, however, is different. A critical part of the book concerns the elaboration of these differences. The results are relevant to accounts of the conditions under which it is legitimate to cease believing and to accounts of conditionals. Mild Contraction will be of great interest to all specialists in belief revision theory and to many students of formal epistemology, philosophy of science, and pragmatism. | |||||||||
| Keywords | Belief and doubt Knowledge, Theory of Decision making | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Buy the book | $74.93 direct from Amazon (25% off) Amazon page | |||||||||
| Call number | BD215.L46 2004 | |||||||||
| ISBN(s) | 0199270708 9780199270705 | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,705 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesAndré Fuhrmann & Sven Ove Hansson (1994). A Survey of Multiple Contractions. Journal of Logic, Language and Information 3 (1):39-75.
Mark Jago (2006). Resource-Bounded Belief Revision and Contraction. In P. Torroni, U. Endriss, M. Baldoni & A. Omicini (eds.), Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies III. Springer.
StephenMurray Glaister (2000). Recovery Recovered. Journal of Philosophical Logic 29 (2):171-206.
Horacio Arló-Costa & Isaac Levi (2006). Contraction: On the Decision-Theoretical Origins of Minimal Change and Entrenchment. Synthese 152 (1):129 - 154.
Isaac Levi (1991). The Fixation of Belief and its Undoing: Changing Beliefs Through Inquiry. Cambridge University Press.
André Fuhrmann (2006). Mild Contraction: Evaluating Loss of Informational Value Due to Loss of Belief. Journal of Philosophy 103 (11):587-591.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads12 ( #93,438 of 549,198 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,397 of 549,198 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
