Doxastic State

• CURIE: gmeow:DoxasticState
• IRI: https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/DoxasticState
• Category: class
• Defined by: gmeow:slices/epistemics
• Box roles: TBox role (What is this?)

An agent's intrinsic believing mode toward a proposition — the reified, first-class mental moment that grounds the flat doxastic spine (gmeow:believes, gmeow:knowsThat). A sibling of cognition:CognitiveState (knowing) and teleology:IntentionalMode (desiring/intending) under kernel:MentalMoment, so an agent's whole endurant mental life is queryable as one family (Principle 15). Inheres in exactly one agent via epistemicAgent and is directed at exactly one Proposition via doxasticContent; its qualitative belief value is carried by a linked StandpointClaim (doxasticClaim → claimModality), and its graded strength by credence [0,1]. Never instantiated directly when the flat spine suffices (Principle 4).

Structure

Subclass of: gmeow:JustificationGround, gmeow:JustificationSubject, gmeow:MentalMoment

Practical Pattern

Use gmeow:DoxasticState as a specialized kind of gmeow:JustificationGround, gmeow:JustificationSubject, gmeow:MentalMoment. Add statement metadata or a standpoint when the assertion needs provenance, confidence, or vantage.

Example Snippets

These snippets are generated from canonical slice examples and trimmed to the Turtle blocks where this term appears.

Belief Revision

• Source: slices/core/epistemics/examples/belief-revision.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-core-epistemics-examples-belief-revision

@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/epistemics/> .
@prefix rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd:   <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .



# --- Original belief (high credence, unequivocal) -----------------------------
ex:originalBelief a gmeow:DoxasticState ;
    rdfs:label "original belief: the printer is broken"@en ;
    gmeow:epistemicAgent ex:operator ;
    gmeow:doxasticContent ex:propPrinterBroken ;
    gmeow:credence "0.92"^^xsd:decimal ;
    gmeow:doxasticClaim ex:originalClaim .

# --- Revised belief (lower credence, probable) --------------------------------
ex:revisedBelief a gmeow:DoxasticState ;
    rdfs:label "revised belief: printer may be broken"@en ;
    gmeow:epistemicAgent ex:operator ;
    gmeow:doxasticContent ex:propPrinterBroken ;
    gmeow:credence "0.35"^^xsd:decimal ;
    gmeow:doxasticClaim ex:revisedClaim .

Flagship Epistemic Ledger

• Source: slices/core/epistemics/examples/flagship-epistemic-ledger.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-core-epistemics-examples-flagship-epistemic-ledger

@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/epistemics/flagship/> .
@prefix rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd:   <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .



# --- Original credence-weighted belief (operator) --------------------------------
ex:opBeliefOriginal a gmeow:DoxasticState ;
    rdfs:label "original belief: LLM recalled the meeting date correctly"@en ;
    gmeow:epistemicAgent ex:operator ;
    gmeow:doxasticContent ex:propRecall ;
    gmeow:doxasticClaim ex:opClaimOriginal ;
    gmeow:credence "0.85"^^xsd:decimal ;
    gmeow:justifiedBy ex:evidenceSpan1 .

# --- Revised belief after a defeater ---------------------------------------------
ex:opBeliefRevised a gmeow:DoxasticState ;
    rdfs:label "revised belief: LLM probably misremembered the meeting date"@en ;
    gmeow:epistemicAgent ex:operator ;
    gmeow:doxasticContent ex:propRecall ;
    gmeow:doxasticClaim ex:opClaimRevised ;
    gmeow:credence "0.30"^^xsd:decimal .

Common Companion Terms

gmeow:JustificationGround, gmeow:JustificationSubject, gmeow:MentalMoment

External Equivalences

Equivalent or closely aligned targets: crminf

Linkages

Generated from the canonical mapping DSL. SSSOM files are the generated public interchange form for term equivalences.

Term Equivalences

Usage Advice

Use when

• Use when an agent's belief toward a proposition must be first-class — when credence, temporal scope (via DoxasticTenure), standpoint modality, or the mental moment itself needs to be queried or revised (Principle 15).

Avoid when

• Avoid for the 80% case where an agent simply believes a proposition — use the flat gmeow:believes / gmeow:knowsThat spine and carry modality on the statement layer; avoid double-typing a belief as both a flat relation and a DoxasticState for the same holding (Principle 12).

How to use

• Mint one DoxasticState per (agent, proposition, claim-modality) tuple; link it via gmeow:doxasticClaim to a StandpointClaim whose vantage is the agent, observedFeature is the proposition, and claimModality carries the qualitative value; attach credence for graded strength and a DoxasticTenure when belief revision history matters.

Examples

• ex:aliceBelievesRound a gmeow:DoxasticState; gmeow:epistemicAgent ex:alice; gmeow:doxasticContent ex:earthIsRound; gmeow:doxasticClaim ex:aliceRoundClaim; gmeow:credence "0.92"^^xsd:decimal.