Optimality Justifications

Optimality Justifications PDF Author: Gerhard Schurz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198887558
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
The leading idea of epistemology in the Enlightenment tradition was foundation-theoretic: to reach knowledge, we must not legitimize our beliefs by external authorities, but instead justify them by rational arguments. Recently, the foundation-theoretic ideal of justification has come under attack, the chief criticism being that universal standards of justification are illusory because the problem of a regress of justification is unsolvable. Alternatives to foundation theory (coherentism, externalism, or dogmatism) have been developed that give up central claims of Enlightenment epistemology such as empirical support, cognitive accessibility, or rational justifiability. Optimality Justifications develops a new account of foundation-theoretic epistemology based on the method of optimality justifications. Optimality justifications offer a solution to the regress problem. Rather than striving for a priori demonstrations of reliability, which are impossible, they show that certain epistemic methods are optimal with regard to all accessible alternatives, which is more modestly but provably possible. In particular, optimality justifications can achieve a non-circular justification of deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning. This volume pursues two goals: a general renewal of foundation-theoretic epistemology based on the account of optimality justifications, and the advancement of methods of optimality justification in important domains of epistemology and the philosophy of science, logic, and cognition. Connected with these goals is the aspiration to develop new ideas for mainstream epistemology, as well as for formal epistemology, philosophy of science, and cognitive science, which are intended to attract researchers, students, and all other readers interested in these fields.

Optimality Justifications

Optimality Justifications PDF Author: Gerhard Schurz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198887558
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Get Book Here

Book Description
The leading idea of epistemology in the Enlightenment tradition was foundation-theoretic: to reach knowledge, we must not legitimize our beliefs by external authorities, but instead justify them by rational arguments. Recently, the foundation-theoretic ideal of justification has come under attack, the chief criticism being that universal standards of justification are illusory because the problem of a regress of justification is unsolvable. Alternatives to foundation theory (coherentism, externalism, or dogmatism) have been developed that give up central claims of Enlightenment epistemology such as empirical support, cognitive accessibility, or rational justifiability. Optimality Justifications develops a new account of foundation-theoretic epistemology based on the method of optimality justifications. Optimality justifications offer a solution to the regress problem. Rather than striving for a priori demonstrations of reliability, which are impossible, they show that certain epistemic methods are optimal with regard to all accessible alternatives, which is more modestly but provably possible. In particular, optimality justifications can achieve a non-circular justification of deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning. This volume pursues two goals: a general renewal of foundation-theoretic epistemology based on the account of optimality justifications, and the advancement of methods of optimality justification in important domains of epistemology and the philosophy of science, logic, and cognition. Connected with these goals is the aspiration to develop new ideas for mainstream epistemology, as well as for formal epistemology, philosophy of science, and cognitive science, which are intended to attract researchers, students, and all other readers interested in these fields.

Hume's Problem Solved

Hume's Problem Solved PDF Author: Gerhard Schurz
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262352451
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
A new approach to Hume's problem of induction that justifies the optimality of induction at the level of meta-induction. Hume's problem of justifying induction has been among epistemology's greatest challenges for centuries. In this book, Gerhard Schurz proposes a new approach to Hume's problem. Acknowledging the force of Hume's arguments against the possibility of a noncircular justification of the reliability of induction, Schurz demonstrates instead the possibility of a noncircular justification of the optimality of induction, or, more precisely, of meta-induction (the application of induction to competing prediction models). Drawing on discoveries in computational learning theory, Schurz demonstrates that a regret-based learning strategy, attractivity-weighted meta-induction, is predictively optimal in all possible worlds among all prediction methods accessible to the epistemic agent. Moreover, the a priori justification of meta-induction generates a noncircular a posteriori justification of object induction. Taken together, these two results provide a noncircular solution to Hume's problem. Schurz discusses the philosophical debate on the problem of induction, addressing all major attempts at a solution to Hume's problem and describing their shortcomings; presents a series of theorems, accompanied by a description of computer simulations illustrating the content of these theorems (with proofs presented in a mathematical appendix); and defends, refines, and applies core insights regarding the optimality of meta-induction, explaining applications in neighboring disciplines including forecasting sciences, cognitive science, social epistemology, and generalized evolution theory. Finally, Schurz generalizes the method of optimality-based justification to a new strategy of justification in epistemology, arguing that optimality justifications can avoid the problems of justificatory circularity and regress.

Justification and Legitimacy

Justification and Legitimacy PDF Author: A. John Simmons
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521793650
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
This book contains essays by A. John Simmons, perhaps the most innovative and creative of today's political philosophers.

Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics

Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics PDF Author: Gabriele M. Mras
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110654547
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 581

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Book Description
This volume presents different conceptions of logic and mathematics and discuss their philosophical foundations and consequences. This concerns first of all topics of Wittgenstein's ideas on logic and mathematics; questions about the structural complexity of propositions; the more recent debate about Neo-Logicism and Neo-Fregeanism; the comparison and translatability of different logics; the foundations of mathematics: intuitionism, mathematical realism, and formalism. The contributing authors are Matthias Baaz, Francesco Berto, Jean-Yves Beziau, Elena Dragalina-Chernya, Günther Eder, Susan Edwards-McKie, Oliver Feldmann, Juliet Floyd, Norbert Gratzl, Richard Heinrich, Janusz Kaczmarek, Wolfgang Kienzler, Timm Lampert, Itala Maria Loffredo D'Ottaviano, Paolo Mancosu, Matthieu Marion, Felix Mühlhölzer, Charles Parsons, Edi Pavlovic, Christoph Pfisterer, Michael Potter, Richard Raatzsch, Esther Ramharter, Stefan Riegelnik, Gabriel Sandu, Georg Schiemer, Gerhard Schurz, Dana Scott, Stewart Shapiro, Karl Sigmund, William W. Tait, Mark van Atten, Maria van der Schaar, Vladimir Vasyukov, Jan von Plato, Jan Woleński and Richard Zach.

Stochastic Processes: Modeling and Simulation

Stochastic Processes: Modeling and Simulation PDF Author: D N Shanbhag
Publisher: Gulf Professional Publishing
ISBN: 9780444500137
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 1028

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Book Description
This sequel to volume 19 of Handbook on Statistics on Stochastic Processes: Modelling and Simulation is concerned mainly with the theme of reviewing and, in some cases, unifying with new ideas the different lines of research and developments in stochastic processes of applied flavour. This volume consists of 23 chapters addressing various topics in stochastic processes. These include, among others, those on manufacturing systems, random graphs, reliability, epidemic modelling, self-similar processes, empirical processes, time series models, extreme value therapy, applications of Markov chains, modelling with Monte Carlo techniques, and stochastic processes in subjects such as engineering, telecommunications, biology, astronomy and chemistry. particular with modelling, simulation techniques and numerical methods concerned with stochastic processes. The scope of the project involving this volume as well as volume 19 is already clarified in the preface of volume 19. The present volume completes the aim of the project and should serve as an aid to students, teachers, researchers and practitioners interested in applied stochastic processes.

Reliable Knowledge and Social Epistemology

Reliable Knowledge and Social Epistemology PDF Author: Gerhard Schurz
Publisher: Rodopi
ISBN: 9042028106
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
This special issue documents the results of a workshop on and with Alvin Goldman at the University of Düsseldorf in May, 2008. The topic was Reliable Knowledge and Social Epistemology. The volume contains the written versions of all papers given at the workshop, divided into five chapters and followed by Alvin Goldman's replies in the sixth and final chapter. The contributions of the first chapter (E. Brendel, C. Jäger, and G. Schurz) address general questions of social epistemology, veritism and externalism, including critical reflections on Goldman's notion of 'weak knowledge'. The subsequent chapter (T. Grundmann and P. Baumann) examines problems which are involved in the search for an adequate explication of reliabilism. In the third chapter, E. Olsson, J. Horvath, C. Piller and M. Werning discuss Goldman and Olsson's account of the problem of the value of knowledge. In the fourth chapter (M. Baurmann & G. Brennan, and O. Scholz) two specific aspects of the social dimension of knowledge are investigated: the relation between knowledge and democracy as well as the definition and recognition of expertise. The fifth chapter (A. Newen & T. Schicht) discusses another part of Goldman's cognitive epistemology, namely his simulation theory of mindreading. Goldman gives detailed replies to all parts of the papers in the final chapter. He thereby clarifies the many aspects of his philosophy and proposes amendments of earlier positions of his.

Unauthorized Access

Unauthorized Access PDF Author: Robert Sloan
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1439830142
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
Going beyond current books on privacy and security, this book proposes specific solutions to public policy issues pertaining to online privacy and security. Requiring no technical or legal expertise, it provides a practical framework to address ethical and legal issues. The authors explore the well-established connection between social norms, privacy, security, and technological structure. They also discuss how rapid technological developments have created novel situations that lack relevant norms and present ways to develop these norms for protecting informational privacy and ensuring sufficient information security.

Automated Configuration Problem Solving

Automated Configuration Problem Solving PDF Author: Charles J. Petrie
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461445329
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Book Description
Automated Configuration has long been the subject of intensive research, especially in Artificial Intelligence. It is a pervasive problem to be solved, and it is a good test of various knowledge representation and reasoning techniques. The problem shows up in applications such as various electrical circuit design, utility computing and even concurrent engineering. Automated Configuration Problem Solving defines the ubiquitous problem, illustrates the various solution techniques, and includes a survey using these techniques from the mid-70's until the mid-90's. During this time, various general approaches were developed, and then become more specialized. This book covers the development of the general problem solving techniques for automated configuration, which are based on both published academic work and patents.

Research Handbook on Corporate Bankruptcy Law

Research Handbook on Corporate Bankruptcy Law PDF Author: Barry E. Adler
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1781007888
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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Book Description
In this Research Handbook, today’s leading experts on the law and economics of corporate bankruptcy address fundamental issues such as the efficiency of bankruptcy, the role and treatment of creditors – particularly secured creditors – in the bankruptcy process, the allocation of going-concern surplus among claimants, the desirability of liquidation in the absence of such surplus, the role of contract in bankruptcy resolution, the role of derivatives in the bankruptcy process, the costs of the bankruptcy system, and the special case of financial institutions, among other topics.

Content and Justification

Content and Justification PDF Author: Paul A. Boghossian
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191558907
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 371

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Book Description
Content and Justification presents a series of essays by Paul Boghossian on the theory of content and on its relation to the phenomenon of a priori knowledge. Part one comprises essays on the nature of rule-following and its relation to the problem of mental content; on the intelligibility of eliminativist views of the mental; on the prospects for a naturalistic reduction of mental content; and on the currently influential view that meaning is a normative notion. Part two includes three widely discussed papers on the phenomenon of self-knowledge and its compatibility with externalist conceptions of mental content. Part three concerns the classical but ill-understood phenomenon of knowledge that is based upon knowledge of meaning or conceptual competence. Finally, part four turns its attention from general issues about mental content to an account of a specific class of mental contents. It contains two widely discussed papers on the nature of colour concepts, and colour properties.