Unpacking Bad Expectations: A Framework for Anticipation and Social Justice in the Eco-Cognitive Paradigm

This article presents the role of anticipations based on axiological information in the eco-cognitive model of abduction (EC-Model). The case explored is the anticipation of not wanting to go to a place based on the bad expectations caused by cases of discrimination, such as the disaffection to go to art museums. In this case, cognitive agents need a specific judgment related to axiological information to evaluate the data of a fact or circumstance that supports their epistemic development. Bad expectations are considered powerful cognitive tools that help us anticipate possible future outcomes. These expectations prompt us to consider alternative scenarios, which in turn influence our present actions, potentially leading to changes in current situations. Likewise, expectations are prospective postures whose plausibility is based on context and past experiences. Thus, anticipations allow agents to consider themselves in situations different from their current circumstances. The relationship between anticipations and expectations can be abductively characterized as the integrating mechanism of the agents’ predisposition to act based on the lived experience and the current perception of the environment. Thus, we employ abductive reasoning to assess the likelihood of an expectation's capacity to anticipate future events. This assessment is based on its epistemic value as a stabilizing hypothesis within a given context. Such expectations serve as guides for determining actions aimed at realizing a desired future outcome. Thus, the prospective plausibility of anticipatory expectation is identified through abductive reasoning because of its epistemic value as a stabilizing hypothesis that guides the actions that should be taken to achieve a desired future.