Reexamining Philosophical Concepts to Improve AI Safety and Alignment

Some of the core principles that govern AI safety and alignment research come from 18th-19th century German metaphysics and philosophy, particularly the triad of epistemology, ontology, and methodology. These are not abstract decoration but are the guardrails that keep reasoning from collapsing into incoherence for any entity (be it human or AI) that needs to maintain organization under long thread discussions and high stakes adversarial conditions. Epistemology The concept of epistemology (e.g.