Knowledge and Uncertainty
Abstract
One purpose of the seeking knowledge about the world is to enhance our ability to make good decisions, An item of knowledge that can make no conceivable difference with regard to anything we might do would strike many as frivolous. Whether or not we want to be philosophical pragmatists in this strong sense with regard to everything we might want to enquire about, it seems a perfectly appropriate attitude to adopt toward artificial knowledge systems. If it is granted that we are ultimately concerned with decisions, then some constraints are imposed on our measures of uncertainty at the level of decision making. If our measure of uncertainty is real valued, then it isn't hard to show that it must satisfy the classical probability axioms.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA250600
Entities
People
- Henry E. Kyburg Jr.
Organizations
- University of Rochester