Knowledge Acquisition and Modelling

Introduction

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Broad Summary of Module Knowledge

What is it? What forms can it

take? Examples? Storage? Relationship to

humans? Relationship to

artefacts? Reliability? Certainty?

Its Elicitation and Acquisition How to? Challenges? Approaches?

Its Representation Conceptual? Functional? Schemes? Certainty?

Module Aim To develop a foundation in the

key tools and technologies used in knowledge acquisition, modelling and representation

To provide an opportunity for students to gain practical experience of using these.

Learning Outcomes – What will you be able to do ? Assess the main methodological and

conceptual issues of knowledge acquisition; Design, justify and implement an appropriate

acquisition and elicitation strategy for a knowledge based problem;

Develop a conceptual knowledge model for a knowledge based problem;

Learning Outcomes – What will you be able to do ? Examine the difficulty and complexity of

knowledge representation; Assess the appropriateness of a range of

knowledge representation techniques for a knowledge based problem;

Formalise and represent knowledge using an appropriate knowledge representation technique;

Learning Outcomes Employ appropriate uncertainty management

techniques in the representation of a knowledge based problem;

Analyse a problem and identify the most appropriate knowledge representation, uncertainty management and reasoning approach to employ in solving it;

Use various computational tools to formalize and represent knowledge using uncertainty management.

Basics Assessment

50% assessment Assessment broken

into three parts Deadline

Wednesday December 5th @ 10.00

50% examination Two hour exam Compulsory Q1 + Any other

question

Lecture notes Supplement to

attending lectures Available via class

website Reading Material

All reading material will be indicated as part of lecture notes

What do we already know? What is knowledge ?

What does it mean to know something ?

What is Knowledge? ‘Trivial Pursuit Model’ Accepted absolutes Common Knowledge Mediated Knowledge Unmediated Knowledge What do you want to happen when you read

an ‘encyclopedia’ or use a similar source?

What is knowledge? Reliability

Knowledge is a true belief that has been arrived at by a reliable process

How reliable? Is it possible to ever create the perfect

encyclopedia? If there was a perfect encyclopedia, could you

get knowledge by reading it, understanding and believing it?

Who should create the perfect encyclopedia? What is the role of experts? Expertise?

What is knowledge ? Does not exist in a social vacuum

Kuhn’s Paradigm The transition from a Ptolemaic

cosmology to a Copernican one.

The transition between the worldview of Newtonian physics and the Einsteinian Relativistic worldview.

The development of Quantum mechanics, which redefined Classical mechanics.

The acceptance of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection replaced Lamarckism as the mechanism for evolution.

What is knowledge?

What is knowledge?

What is knowledge? All knowledge is the answer to a question that

someone has posed All knowledge began in doubt

Knowledge By Description (Russell) Public knowledge Knowledge of facts Knowledge of a discipline Describes the world using statements or

propositions Language and form of expression are crucial Statements about reality are usually a

combination of facts and interpretation

Knowledge by Description Example

There has been an accident. A single observer (you) experiences the reality of the situation and communicates back to an audience.

You state: ‘There are 12 people involved.’

There are several built in assumptions that will determine if I believe you you can see things for what they

are, the conditions of seeing are

adequate that you can describe them

accurately that you are a truth-teller and that I can understand you

Overall the statement is thought to be objective

i.e. Another person in a similar

situation would report the same thing

However, details of the condition of the people involved is subjective or interpretative Your opinions, feelings, experience

will shape your statements Knowledge By Description has

as its goal more objective propositions but we recognise that most statements are a combination of fact and interpretation

Exercise Which statements are more objective than

interpretive? 1 There was murder in his eyes. 2 Four cars crashed together at the stop light. 3 The sun is coming in the window. 4 He was drunk when he hit the car. 5 There were eight puppies in the kennel

today. 6 The fire drill rang at ten o’clock. 7 No one was prepared to leave the school in

an orderly way

Knowledge by Acquaintance (Russell) Private knowledge A felt knowledge, how to do something May not be easily expressed but sense of

certainty may be strong Must convey your knowledge by acquaintance

by descriptive knowledge Best shown not explained

Rationalism v Empiricism Rationalism (Descartes)

Reason has precedence over all other ways of acquiring knowledge

Empiricism (Locke) Senses are primary with respect to knowledge

Exercise Look at each of the propositions below and decide whether it can be

proven true or false or both or neither. Imagine that someone is asserting each one as knowledge, not

merely believed or held as an opinion. 1 I know it is raining. 2 I know it is raining or it isn’t raining. 3 I know 2 + 2 = 4. 4 I know two apples and two apples make four apples. 5 I know my brother is my sibling. 6 I know how to speak French. 7 I know I will pass the test. 8 I know girls are better at theory of knowledge than boys. 9 I know murder is wrong. 10 I know my tooth hurts. 11 I know she doesn’t like me. 12 I know God exists.

Answers 1

is empirical and needs sense experience to prove it true or false.

2 True under all conditions once you have understood the

language, What could prove it false?

3 true at all times within the

mathematical framework of base 10.

what could prove it false? 4

There is surface similarity to 3 but This is an empirical statement

about the physical world not maths

5 a rational proposition true by

definition. if he is your brother, then he is your

sibling.

6 a ‘knowing how’ statement, not

‘knowing that. Requires performance to proof

7 either true or false but, as such, it

is not verifiable. can a statement about the future

be claimed to be true or false in advance of its occurrence?

8 could be classified as empirical

since, in principle, it could be established as true or false by looking at all the evidence.

Exercise 9

Is this more of a belief? 10

Only true for you No one else can verify it

11 Opinion or belief. How would you know?

12 ?

Exercise What do you make of these propositions? Are

they more rational or empirical? Every event has a cause. All people are created equal. Whatever has shape has size. Every cube has twelve edges. I see with my eyes. There is life on Mars.

The Correspondence Truth Test

A statement is made about a state of affairs (facts) which either matches or doesn’t to the facts (state of affairs)

Coherence Truth Test

Statements pass through their rational agreement with others

Pragmatic Truth Test Based on believing something to be true

rather than actual truth Becomes interesting with beliefs

Exercise Which truth tests would you apply to test the truth of the following: 1 coherence (logical truths) 2 correspondence (observational truths) _______ a Metals expand when heated. _______ b It is raining. _______ c It is raining or it is not raining. _______ d A triangle has three sides. (The sum of the interior angles of a triangle = 180

degrees.) _______ e All white cats are white. _______ f All white cats are deaf. _______ g The population of Tokyo is larger than that of Hong Kong. _______ h All wives have husbands. _______ i Mars has no moons. _______ j Mars is a planet. _______ k The best team will win the World Series. _______ l If Bert is a younger son, then he is a brother. _______ m If Bert is a younger son, then he is a sibling. _______ n It is now raining in Rio. _______ o The hydrogen atom has one electron. _______ p You are either here or somewhere else. _______ q There is an invisible elephant in this room.