Personal page of Felix Kopecky

Contact

E-Mail: firstname.lastname@kit.edu (PGP key)

Research

Current work

There are very recent calls to explore applications of computer models and simulations in philosophy, particularly in social epistemology (e.g., Grim 2019; Mayo-Wilson & Zollman 2021). Within this line of research, I study disagreement and polarisation in agent-based models built on the theory of dialectical structures (Betz 2009; 2013). My focus is on argumentation and the effects that argumentative features have on epistemological processes.

Areas of specialisation

Argumentation theory, and in particular:
Social epistemology, and in particular:
Computational philosophy, particularly:

Publications

2025
Inconsistent belief aggregation in diverse and polarised groups (with Gregor Betz). Philosophy of Science 92(1). DOI: 10.1017/psa.2024.29.
2024
Argumentation-induced rational issue polarisation. Philosophical Studies 181(1). DOI: 10.1007/s11098-023-02059-6.
2022
Arguments as drivers of issue polarisation in debates among artificial agents. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 25(1). DOI: 10.18564/jasss.4767.

Presentations

List of presentations
  1. Tracking divergent debates in dialectical structures, 3rd European Conference on Argumentation, Groningen, 27 June 2019. (Slides)
  2. Introduction to debate analysis with the theory of dialectical structures and Argdown (in German), Marburg, 5 December 2020 (invited).
  3. Rational issue polarisation among agents with perfect memory: How argumentation shapes multi-agent epistemic processes, GAP.11, Berlin, 15 September 2022. (Handout)
  4. Belief polarisation in agent-based debate models, Workshop on agent-based models of epistemic communities, Bochum, 23 February 2023 (invited).
  5. Inconsistent belief aggregation in diverse and polarised groups: A computational study
    • At the Institutional Epistemology Workshop 2023, Helsinki, 20 June 2023.
    • At a workshop on reasoning with imperfect information in social settings, Pisa, 27 October 2023
  6. On the benefit of symbolic and generative AI for philosophical research (in German), DKPHIL XXVI, Münster, 23 September 2024.
  7. Diversity in dialectical structures, Computational Social Philosophy Seminar (online), 7 October 2024 (invited).
  8. Epistemic effects of biased argumentation in artificial societies.
    • At Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 30 January 2025 (invited).
    • At EPSA 25, Groningen, August 2025 (Poster)
    • At GAP.12, Düsseldorf, September 2025

Teaching

Software

taupy
A Python package to study the theory of dialectical structures. (Documentation; Source code; PyPI)
argdown-l3
An Argdown parser for LaTeX. (Source code)

Academic CV

2020–2023
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (part-time) in Gregor Betz's group
2020–2021
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (part-time) in André Bächtiger's group
2019
MA in Philosophy, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
2015
BA in Philosophy, Freie Universität Berlin

Professional CV

since 2025
Freelance consultant for academic publication projects in the humanities and social scienes
2023–2025
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences
2015–2025
Language Science Press gUG, Berlin (in various positions)