Logic and Philosophy of Science Research Group Talk (Kevin Zollman, Carnegie Mellon)

Kevin Zollman is an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition to his primary appointment at Carnegie Mellon, Professor Zollman is an associate fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, an Adjunct Member of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, and a visiting professor at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (part of Ludwig-Maximilians Universität). His research focuses on game theory, agent based modeling, and the philosophy of science

Talk Title

Epistemic Governance

Abstract

In economics there is a long standing discussion about market failure.  Cases where an unregulated market will fail to achieve good outcomes for the participants are well known, and there is substantial debate about how to handle these situations.  In this talk, I will show that analogous problems arise in epistemic contexts.  Groups of inquirers (like scientists) can each attempt to learn the truth, but collectively fail to do so optimally. I will discuss how these problems arise and what we might do about them.

About the Logic and Philosophy of Science Research Interest Group

One of five departmental Research Interest Groups, the Logic and Philosophy of Science Group hosts talks on logic, general philosophy of science, and philosophy of the particular sciences, as well as talks in allied areas such as formal epistemology, decision theory, and the metaphysics of science.