
Dr Jason Konek
BA(Wis.), MA(Mich.), PhD(Mich.)
Current positions
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
Contact
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Research interests
My research covers a range of topics in formal epistemology and decision theory. Over the past few years, I have been investigating the foundations and applications of epistemic utility theory. Epistemic utility theory aims to provide rigorous, decision-theoretic justifications for norms governing rational belief. It proceeds in two stages. Firstly, it pins down what is that makes one's beliefs epistemically valuable at a world, and proposes "epistemic utility functions" that measure this sort of value. Secondly, it uses the machinery of decision theory to show that certain epistemic norms are a better means to the end of epistemic value than others. Some of my work in epistemic utility theory focuses on foundational issues, e.g., sorting out why we should measure epistemic utility using "strictly proper scoring rules." Other work focuses on applications, e.g., using epistemic utility theory to help elucidate the nature of probabilistic knowledge, or to shed light on our epistemic reasons for adopting imprecise credences.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Epistemic Utility for Imprecise Probability
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Department of PhilosophyDates
01/02/2020 to 31/01/2025
Thesis supervisions
Higher-order evidence, reliability, and peer disagreement
Supervisors
Deference Principles for Imprecise Probabilities
Supervisors
Doxastic Dispositions
Supervisors
Reductive, Internalist Representationalism
Supervisors
The Epistemic Value of Conceptualizing the Possible
Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
15/12/2022The Art of Learning
Oxford Studies in Epistemology
Degrees of incoherence, Dutch bookability & guidance value
Philosophical Studies
Comparative Probabilities
The Open Handbook of Formal Epistemology
Believing Probabilistic Contents
Analysis Reviews
The Foundations of Epistemic Decision Theory
Mind