Darwiche and Pearl’s Iterated Belief Revision: Not Always Spohn-Expressible

The problem of iterated belief revision, which concerns how rational agents modify their beliefs in response to new information over time, lies at the core of understanding rational belief change. This article examines the interplay between the following two prominent frameworks for iterated belief...

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Main Author: Theofanis Aravanis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-03-01
Series:Mathematics
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/6/933
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author Theofanis Aravanis
author_facet Theofanis Aravanis
author_sort Theofanis Aravanis
collection DOAJ
description The problem of iterated belief revision, which concerns how rational agents modify their beliefs in response to new information over time, lies at the core of understanding rational belief change. This article examines the interplay between the following two prominent frameworks for iterated belief revision: the qualitative Darwiche and Pearl’s approach (abbrev. DP approach) and the quantitative Spohn conditionalization. In particular, we prove that the DP approach is too liberal (under-constrained) to capture Spohn’s conditionalization (confined to revision scenarios); hence, the former cannot be regarded as a precise qualitative counterpart of the latter. Against this background, we provide insights into the essential semantic constraints on total preorders over the possible worlds needed to strengthen the DP approach and achieve alignment with Spohn’s method.
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spelling doaj-art-8f686b0998064b50aefcf8ecf09ca3882025-08-20T01:48:41ZengMDPI AGMathematics2227-73902025-03-0113693310.3390/math13060933Darwiche and Pearl’s Iterated Belief Revision: Not Always Spohn-ExpressibleTheofanis Aravanis0Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Peloponnese, 263 34 Patras, GreeceThe problem of iterated belief revision, which concerns how rational agents modify their beliefs in response to new information over time, lies at the core of understanding rational belief change. This article examines the interplay between the following two prominent frameworks for iterated belief revision: the qualitative Darwiche and Pearl’s approach (abbrev. DP approach) and the quantitative Spohn conditionalization. In particular, we prove that the DP approach is too liberal (under-constrained) to capture Spohn’s conditionalization (confined to revision scenarios); hence, the former cannot be regarded as a precise qualitative counterpart of the latter. Against this background, we provide insights into the essential semantic constraints on total preorders over the possible worlds needed to strengthen the DP approach and achieve alignment with Spohn’s method.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/6/933iterated belief revisionDarwiche and Pearl’s approachSpohn’s conditionalizationqualitative and quantitative belief changeknowledge representation
spellingShingle Theofanis Aravanis
Darwiche and Pearl’s Iterated Belief Revision: Not Always Spohn-Expressible
Mathematics
iterated belief revision
Darwiche and Pearl’s approach
Spohn’s conditionalization
qualitative and quantitative belief change
knowledge representation
title Darwiche and Pearl’s Iterated Belief Revision: Not Always Spohn-Expressible
title_full Darwiche and Pearl’s Iterated Belief Revision: Not Always Spohn-Expressible
title_fullStr Darwiche and Pearl’s Iterated Belief Revision: Not Always Spohn-Expressible
title_full_unstemmed Darwiche and Pearl’s Iterated Belief Revision: Not Always Spohn-Expressible
title_short Darwiche and Pearl’s Iterated Belief Revision: Not Always Spohn-Expressible
title_sort darwiche and pearl s iterated belief revision not always spohn expressible
topic iterated belief revision
Darwiche and Pearl’s approach
Spohn’s conditionalization
qualitative and quantitative belief change
knowledge representation
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/6/933
work_keys_str_mv AT theofanisaravanis darwicheandpearlsiteratedbeliefrevisionnotalwaysspohnexpressible