Formal Epistemology

Author(s):  
Igor Douven ◽  
Jonah N. Schupbach

Formal epistemology is a young but vibrant field of research in analytic philosophy characterized by both its matter and its method. The subject matter of this field is epistemology, the theory of knowledge. The method for investigating the subject matter of epistemology involves the use of formal, logicomathematical devices. This chapter highlights the major achievements of formal epistemology so far and gives a sense of what can be accomplished by addressing problems from mainstream epistemology with the use of logic, probability theory, computer simulations, and other formal tools. The historical roots of the field are also described, and there is a discussion of new questions that have been raised by formal epistemology that should also be of interest to mainstream epistemologists. We also pay attention to the currently emerging subfield of formal social epistemology.

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Hester

When dealing with complex systems, all decision making occurs under some level of uncertainty. This is due to the physical attributes of the system being analyzed, the environment in which the system operates, and the individuals which operate the system. Techniques for decision making that rely on traditional probability theory have been extensively pursued to incorporate these inherent aleatory uncertainties. However, complex problems also typically include epistemic uncertainties that result from lack of knowledge. These problems are fundamentally different and cannot be addressed in the same fashion. In these instances, decision makers typically use subject matter expert judgment to assist in the analysis of uncertainty. The difficulty with expert analysis, however, is in assessing the accuracy of the expert's input. The credibility of different information can vary widely depending on the expert’s familiarity with the subject matter and their intentional (i.e., a preference for one alternative over another) and unintentional biases (heuristics, anchoring, etc.). This paper proposes the metric of evidential credibility to deal with this issue. The proposed approach is ultimately demonstrated on an example problem concerned with the estimation of aircraft maintenance times for the Turkish Air Force.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Zdzislaw Wasik

<p>This article aims at a confrontation of two approaches to epistemology in order to answer the question posed in its title whether the theory of knowledge should focus on static or dynamic aspects of human cognition. In the first part, the author presents a metascientific understanding of epistemology defined in his own works as an ordered set of investigative perspectives, which practicing researchers have at their disposal when they are interested to attain a specific state of knowledge, or to support their beliefs about the nature of investigative domains with regard to the existence forms and accessibility of investigated objects. And, in the second, the subject matter of a more detailed presentation constitutes a psychophysiological approach to epistemology pertaining to the human organism preoccupied with sensorial and mental activities as a cognizing subject who aims at achieving a certain kind of information about reality. Common for both approaches to epistemology is the attainment of experiential knowledge. However, when the metascientific epistemology refers to a dispositional-perspectivistic state of knowledge acquired in cognition, the attention of the psychophysiological epistemology is paid to cognitive-constructivists activities of human organisms as subject acquiring their knowledge through personal experiences.</p>


PMLA ◽  
1935 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 1320-1327
Author(s):  
Colbert Searles

THE germ of that which follows came into being many years ago in the days of my youth as a university instructor and assistant professor. It was generated by the then quite outspoken attitude of colleagues in the “exact sciences”; the sciences of which the subject-matter can be exactly weighed and measured and the force of its movements mathematically demonstrated. They assured us that the study of languages and literature had little or nothing scientific about it because: “It had no domain of concrete fact in which to work.” Ergo, the scientific spirit was theirs by a stroke of “efficacious grace” as it were. Ours was at best only a kind of “sufficient grace,” pleasant and even necessary to have, but which could, by no means ensure a reception among the elected.


1965 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
pp. 112-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Zinsser

An outline has been presented in historical fashion of the steps devised to organize the central core of medical information allowing the subject matter, the patient, to define the nature and the progression of the diseases from which he suffers, with and without therapy; and approaches have been made to organize this information in such fashion as to align the definitions in orderly fashion to teach both diagnostic strategy and the content of the diseases by programmed instruction.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alawiye Abdulmumin Abdurrazzaq ◽  
Ahmad Wifaq Mokhtar ◽  
Abdul Manan Ismail

This article is aimed to examine the extent of the application of Islamic legal objectives by Sheikh Abdullah bn Fudi in his rejoinder against one of their contemporary scholars who accused them of being over-liberal about the religion. He claimed that there has been a careless intermingling of men and women in the preaching and counselling gathering they used to hold, under the leadership of Sheikh Uthman bn Fudi (the Islamic reformer of the nineteenth century in Nigeria and West Africa). Thus, in this study, the researchers seek to answer the following interrogations: who was Abdullah bn Fudi? who was their critic? what was the subject matter of the criticism? How did the rebutter get equipped with some guidelines of higher objectives of Sharĩʻah in his rejoinder to the critic? To this end, this study had tackled the questions afore-stated by using inductive, descriptive and analytical methods to identify the personalities involved, define and analyze some concepts and matters considered as the hub of the study.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 660
Author(s):  
Ranirizal Ranirizal

Performance is the performance shown by educators, both in quality and quantity in carrying out their duties in accordance with the responsibilities given to them professionally. Educator performance development is a very decisive factor in the success of the education and learning process. In fact, in Kindergarten Rayon IV, Dumai City, there is still a low level of competency standards possessed by educators. The intended competency standard is from the standard academic qualifications and four competencies that must be possessed by a kindergarten educator, namely pedagogic, professional, social and personality competencies. This is evidenced by educators not yet mastering learning material with the maximum known when the learning process educators are not able to explain well the subject matter, and educators have not shown maximum performance in carrying out their duties and functions. The purpose of this study was to see whether there was an influence on teacher professionalism on teacher performance in Dumai IV Rayon Kindergarten. The results of the study prove that there is a significant relationship between the professionalism of Kindergarten educators and the performance of educators in Kindergarten Rayon IV, Dumai City. This is evidenced by the value of Sig (2-tailed) professionalism on educator's performance of 0,000, so the calculation shows 0,000 <0.05. This means that Ha is accepted, that is, there is a significant relationship between the professionalism of Kindergarten educators and the Performance of Educators in Kindergarten Rayon IV, Dumai City.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-144
Author(s):  
Patrick Masiyakurima

Metahumaniora ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Ari J. Adipurwawijdana

ABSTRAKRiwayat yang disajikan penulis Britania era Viktorian tentang perjalannnya ke Amerikamengasumsikan adanya sebuah jaringan prasarana transportasi. Sistem transportasiterkait dengan riwayat perjalanan (travel narrative) dalam tiga hal, yaitu (1) sebagaibasis material bagi perjalanan, (2) sebagai substruktur riwayat, dan (3) sebagai pokokpembicaraan dalam riwayat itu sendiri. Buku Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832)merupakan model bagi cara infrastruktur transportasi menentukan aspek naratologis,yaitu urutan dan perspektif dalam struktur naratif riwayat perjalanan. Karya tersebut jugamenyajikan transportasi sebagai pokok pembicaraan dalam teksnya itu sendiri walaupun tidaksejauh sebagaimana yang tampak pada The Amateur Emigrant (1895) karya Robert LouisStevenson. Dalam hal ini, The American Scene (1907) karya Henry James juga relevankarena, walaupun tidak secara gamblang membicarakan transportasi sebagai topik dantidak pula menampakkan ciri-ciri riwayat perjalanan, karya tersebut merepresentasicara wawasan Britania-Amerika trans-Atlantik dianggap sebagai sesuatu yang lumrah.Wawasan ini juga memandang menganggap perjalanan trans-Atlantik sebagai semacamperjalanan menembus waktu, yang menunjukkan ketidaknyaman para penulis Britaniaabad kesembilanbelas terhadap transformasi sosial ke masyrakat demokratis yangdirepresentasi secara metaforis oleh pemahaman mereka tentang Amerika.Kata kunci: catatan perjalanan Viktorian, transportasi, wisataABSTRACTNarratives presented by Victorian British writers about their travels to America assume theavailability of a transprtation infrastructure system. Such a system is related to the travelnarrative in three things, namely, (1) as a material base for travel, (2) as a narrative substructurehistory, and (3) as the subject-matter of the narratives. Fanny Trollope’s Domestic Mannerof the Americans (1832) is a model for the way transportation infrastructure determinesnarratological aspects, namely order and perspective in the structure of the travel narrative.The piece also presents transportation as a subject-matter in its text although it does notgo so far as do Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Amateur Emigrant (1895). In discussingtransportation Henry James’ The American Scene is also relevant because, despite it’s notexplicitly speaking of transportation as a topic nor does it show the convential characteristicsof the travel narrative, the work represents a British-American trans-Atlantic world viewas a given. This world view also considers trans-Atlantic travels as a kind of voyage acrosstime, implying the discomfort of nineteenth-century British writers concerning the socialtransition into a democratic society represented by America as a metaphor.Keywords: Victorian travel narrative, transportation, tourism


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