Experiences - A Forgotten Component of Epistemic States

This paper investigates a specific type of information that should have an important place in the epistemic state of individual agents, namely their experiences. Just as beliefs, desires, or intentions, experiences should be properly represented, and their specific role in reasoning and decision processes clearly identified. After formally defining what an experience is, the paper explains in what respect experiences differ from and complement beliefs, and are not just ordinary cases. The added value of experiences in agent reasoning and decision making is then discussed in detail.