Comparing Knowledge: An Analysis of the Relative Epistemic Powers of Groups

Baltag Alexandru; Smets Sonja

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arXiv · 2512.06542

Comparing Knowledge: An Analysis of the Relative Epistemic Powers of Groups

Baltag Alexandru·Smets Sonja

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Abstract

We use a novel type of epistemic logic, employing comparative knowledge assertions, to analyze the relative epistemic powers of individuals or groups of agents. Such comparative assertions can express that a group has the potential to (collectively) know everything that another group can know. Moreover, we look at comparisons involving various types of knowledge (fully introspective, positively introspective, etc.), satisfying the corresponding modal-epistemic conditions (e.g., $S5$, $S4$, $KT$). For each epistemic attitude, we are particularly interested in what agents or groups can know about their own epistemic position relative to that of others.

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Baltag Alexandru, Smets Sonja. 2025-12-06. Comparing Knowledge: An Analysis of the Relative Epistemic Powers of Groups. https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.06542

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