Introducing the Doxastically Centered Approach to Formalizing Relevance Bonds in Conditionals

Abstract

Conditional reasoning is an important part of sophisticated cognition. Such reasoning is systematically studied in the sub-discipline of conditional logic, where the focus has been on the objects over which conditional reasoning operates (formulae, and the internals thereof). We introduce herein a new approach: one marked by a focus on the mental attitudes of the agents engaged in conditional reasoning. We specifically present our approach in connection with the challenge of rigorously capturing what seems to many to be a requirement for an adequate formalization of conditional reasoning: viz., that the antecedent and consequent in conditionals be relevant to each other.