Relevance and Irrelevance

The Relevance of Irrelevance

This research describes the formalization of statements of the form fact f is irrelevant to fact g given theory M. We motivate the need for representing and reasoning wi th such statements in problem-solving systems, and outline the semantics and properties of statements about irrelevance. We then describe a logic irrelevance that serves as a language for specifying irrelevance claims in the wo...

The Irrelevance Of Relevance

The lack of a theory of relevance in the current state of the art of informal logic has often been considered regrettable, a gap that must be filled before the RelevanceSufficiency-Acceptability model can be considered complete. I wish to challenge this view. A theory of relevance is neither desirable nor possible. Informal logic has got by perfectly well with relevance judgments that are unana...

Probabilistic Default Logic Based on Irrelevance and Relevance Assumptions

The Wrong Problem: Relevance and Irrelevance in Bayesian Confirmation Theory

On various probabilistic accounts of confirmation, including Bayesian confirmation theory, if a piece of evidence confirms a hypothesis, it also (usually) confirms the conjunction of that hypothesis and another, irrelevant hypothesis. Various writers have argued that this is no problem for the Bayesian approach, but they have ignored what I take to be by far the more serious (and more historica...

Innovation and Creativity in the Fine Arts: The Relevance and Irrelevance of Copyright