 Terminology. Cognitive science and related fields typically use the term “learning” for the process of gaining information through observation— hence the name “learning theory”. To most cognitive scientists, the term “learning theory” suggests the empirical study of human and animal learning stemming from the behaviourist paradigm in psychology. The epithet “formal” distinguishes the subject of this entry from behaviourist learning theory. Philosophical terms for learning-theoretic epistemology include “logical reliability” (Kelly [1996], Glymour [1991]) and “means-ends epistemology” (Schulte [1999]).