A Characterization of Probability-based Dichotomous Belief Revision

Studia Logica - This article investigates the properties of multistate top revision, a dichotomous (AGM-style) model of belief revision that is based on an underlying model of probability revision....     

Names Introduced with the Help of Unsatisfied Sortal Predicates: Reply to Aranyosi

In this paper I answer Aranyosi’s (Axiomathes 19(2):223–224, 2009) criticism of my “Is Phosphorus Hesperus?” (Axiomathes 19(1):101–102, 2009).     

Back to Basics: Belief Revision Through Direct Selection

Studia Logica - Traditionally, belief change is modelled as the construction of a belief set that satisfies a success condition. The success condition is usually that a specified sentence should be...     

Ethical Criteria of Risk Acceptance

Mainstream moral theories deal with situations in which the outcome of each possible action is well-determined and knowable. In order to make ethics relevant for problems of risk and uncertainty, moral theories have to be extended so that they cover actions whose outcomes are not determinable beforehand. One approach to this extension problem is to develop methods for appraising probabilistic combinations of outcomes. This approach is investigated and shown not to solve the problem. An alternative approach is then developed. Its starting-point is that everyone has a prima facie moral right not to be exposed to risk. However, this right can be overridden if the risk-exposure is part of an equitable system for risk-taking that works to the advantage of the individual risk-exposed person.     

SYMPOSIUM ON MASS AND INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

This study employs the 1983–1985 data from Social Sciences Citation Index's Journal Citation Reports to examine citation linkages of 10 communication journals. Some newly developed citation indices, together with existing ones, are used to examine the citation characteristics of these journals. The citation patterns found in this study are consistent with Reeves and Borgman's findings. There are some indications of gradual development in the field. However, in comparison with other social science fields, communication is still less developed and occupies only a peripheral position in the ecology of knowledge. The relative lack of interflow within the field and between communication and other fields is quite prominent.