Abstract
This paper is concerned with formal aspects of the logic of theory change, and in particular with the process of shrinking or contracting a theory to eliminate a proposition. It continues work in the area by the authors and Peter Gärdenfors. The paper defines a notion of “safe contraction” of a set of propositions, shows that it satisfies the Gärdenfors postulates for contraction and thus can be represented as a partial meet contraction, and studies its properties both in general and under various natural constraints.
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References
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Alchourrón, C.E., Makinson, D. On the logic of theory change: Safe contraction. Stud Logica 44, 405–422 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00370430
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00370430