For the Sake of the Argument: Ramsey Test Conditionals, Inductive Inference and Nonmonotonic Reasoning

ISBN-13: 9780521497138 / Angielski / Twarda / 1996 / 362 str.

New York) Isaac Levi (Columbia University

Opis

This work from a philosopher in the fields of epistemology and logic offers an account of suppositional reasoning relevant to practical deliberation, explanation, prediction and hypothesis testing. Suppositions made for the sake of argument sometimes conflict with our beliefs, and when they do, some beliefs are rejected and others retained. Thanks to such belief contravention, adding content to a supposition can undermine conclusions reached without it. Subversion can also arise because suppositional reasoning is ampliative. These two types of nonmonotonic logic are the focus of this book. A detailed comparison of nonmonotonicity appropriate to both belief contravening and ampliative suppositional reasoning reveals important differences that have been overlooked.

Recenzje

"This is in itself valuable. Philosophers will find in this book a conscientious and by and large successful attempt to come to terms with some of the basic work in nonmonotonic reasoning, and to render it in language that is familiar to them." Michael Morreau, Jrnl of Philosophy

Spis treści

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Unextended Ramsey tests; 3. Modality without modal ontology; 4. Aspects of conditional logic; 5. Nonmonotonicity in belief change and suppositional reasoning; 6. Inductive expansion; 7. Defaults; 8. Matters of degree; 9. Normality and expectation; 10. Agents and automata; Notes; Bibliography; Name index; Subject index.