This paper is about Spohn’s theory of epistemic beliefs. The main ingredients of Spohn’s theory are (i) a functional representation of an epistemic state called a disbelief function, and (ii) a rule for revising this function in light of new information. The main contribution of this paper is as follows. First, we provide a new axiomatic definition of an epistemic state and study some of its pr...

For linear evolution control system described by ẋ = Ax(t) + Bu(t), x(0) = x0 (A generates a strongly continuous semigroup {S(t)}t≥0 on a Banach space X; B is a linear unbounded operator), the attainable set K (t) set is studied. Conditions of the independence of t for its closure K(t) are established. Controllability conditions for some classes of evolution systems are obtained.

According to the principle of epistemic closure, knowledge is closed under known implication. The principle is intuitive but it is problematic in some cases. Suppose you know you have hands and you know that ‘I have hands’ implies ‘I am not a brain-in-a-vat’. Does it follow that you know you are not a brain-in-a-vat? It seems not; it should not be so easy to refute skepticism. In this and simil...

1. Epistemic closure The general principle of epistemic closure stipulates that epistemic properties are transmissible through logical means. The principle of epistemic closure under known entailment (ECKE), a particular instance of epistemic closure (EC), has received a good deal of attention since the last thirty years or so. ECKE states that: if one knows that p, and she knows that p entails...

In this paper I examine the feminist claim that non-epistemic values ought to play a role in scientific inquiry. I examine four holist arguments that non-epistemic values ought to play a role not only in the external aspects of scientific inquiry such as problem selection and the ethics of experimentation but also in its internal aspects, those that have to do with epistemic justification. In s...

Epistemic consequentialists maintain that the epistemically right (e.g. the justified) is to be understood in terms of conduciveness to the epistemic good (e.g. true belief). Given the wide variety of epistemological approaches that assume some form of epistemic consequentialism, and the controversies surrounding consequentialism in ethics, it is surprising that epistemic consequentialism remai...

The goal of this paper is to analyse the central role of the epistemic activity in anticipatory mental life. A precise typology of different kinds of epistemic actions will be presented. On theses basis, a precise characterization of expectations about the success in the achievement of an intended result will be provided. Moreover, two specific kinds of epistemic actions (Epistemic Control and ...

Five arguments in favour of deliberative democracy are considered. These focus on its educative power, on its community-generating power, on the fairness of the procedure of public deliberation, on the epistemic quality of its outcomes and on the congruence of the deliberative democratic ideal ‘with whom we are’. The first four arguments are shown to be inadequate. The fifth argument, it is cla...