Reasoning processes as epistemic dynamics

Fernando R. Velázquez-Quesada

pp. 41-60

in: Olga Pombo (ed), Metaphysical and Epistemological Challenges, Axiomathes 25 (1), 2015.

Abstract

This work proposes an understanding of deductive, default and abductive reasoning as different instances of the same phenomenon: epistemic dynamics. It discusses the main intuitions behind each one of these reasoning processes, and suggest how they can be understood as different epistemic actions that modify an agent's knowledge and/or beliefs in a different way, making formal the discussion with the use of the dynamic epistemic logic framework. The ideas in this paper put the studied processes under the same umbrella, thus highlighting their relationship and allowing a better understanding of how they interact together.