Negation of graded beliefs

Abstract

Negation is a key element in the construction of logical systems and plays a central role in reasoning and information manipulation tools. This paper considers the issue of negating graded beliefs, in the framework of a graded doxastic logic. It studies three interpretations of negation for these high level pieces of information, where negation is transferred to the three components of graded beliefs: the formula about which a belief is expressed, the belief modality and the belief level. The paper discusses the choice of appropriate formal frameworks for each of them, considering modal, fuzzy and many-valued logics; it characterises their use and underlines their relations, in particular regarding their effects on the belief degrees.