 This proposition establishes that \(f_E\) has a greatest fixed point, which characterizes common knowledge in Barwise’s account. As Barwise himself observes, the fixed point analysis of common knowledge is closely related to Aumann’s partition account. This is easy to see when one compares the fixed point analysis to the notion of common truisms that Aumann’s account generates. Some authors regard the fixed point analysis as an alternate formulation of Aumann’s analysis. Barwise’s fixed point analysis of common knowledge is favored by those who are especially interested in the applications of common knowledge to problems in logic, while the hierarchical and the partition accounts are favored by those who wish to apply common knowledge in social philosophy and social science. When knowledge operators satisfy the axioms (K1)-(K5), the Barwise account of common knowledge is equivalent to the hierarchical account.