RESEARCH: Software Epistemology

Summary

Software Epistemology is the study of knowledge in the context of a software agent. Software Epistemology asks the questions: What counts as knowledge for a software agent? Can software agents know? If software agents can have knowledge, how is it acquired and maintained? Further, if software agents can have knowledge, how can we establish the credential and pedigree of that knowledge? Software Epistemology situates an agent in a set of possible worlds and asks the question:

What epistemic structures, discrete structures and inference mechanisms could a software agent use to store and maintain knowledge about worlds it considers possible?

Software Epistemology establishes the framework and foundation for a computational epistemology by providing an Epistemic Structure for the Tripartite Analysis of Knowledge and the Fundamental Epistemic Axiom for software agents.