Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP)
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Epistemology

Our research in epistemology addresses general questions regarding belief, justification, and knowledge – in scientific, legal and political context. Such general questions are concerned with the following issues:

  • Rational belief and belief change: What is a rational belief? What are the contents of rational belief? What is the connection between full belief and degrees of belief? What could it mean to change or revise one’s beliefs in a rational manner? Which principles of rationality, which epistemic norms, should constrain belief and belief change? How are these principles justified? Is there a logic of belief?
  • Evidence, Justification, and Knowledge: What does it mean that a claim or belief is justified by empirical evidence? What is empirical evidence? Is justification always based on empirical evidence? Or are there different kinds of non-empirical confirmation? Is the simplicity of a claim truth-conducive? If a set of propositions is coherent, does this indicate that they are true? What are the basic principles that govern knowledge? Is there a priori knowledge in scientific and other contexts? Is everything knowable?
  • Experts, (Dis)agreement, and Values: Under what conditions should one trust the testimony of experts? How does one integrate, or aggregate, empirical evidence coming from a variety of experts (or other sources)? How should one react to disagreement among experts or peers in a rational manner? Is a claim more likely to be true, if it is subject to agreement of a majority of peers or experts? What is the epistemological role of objectivity and how is it related to agreement? What is the role of moral, social, political, and aesthetic values in reasoning and justification?

Members of faculty working in epistemology:

Doctoral fellows working in epistemology: