Objective Probability, and Conditional Reasoning Seminar: Unsharp Best Systems

source: SchAdvStudy     2014年2月4日
28-01-14 Institute of Philosophy
http://www.sas.ac.uk/
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Objective Probability, and Conditional Reasoning Seminar: Unsharp Best Systems
Luke Fenton-Glynn (UCL)
The worst problem about the Best System Analysis of laws and chances is that there aren't uniquely appropriate measures of the theoretical virtues such as simplicity and strength, or a uniquely correct exchange rate at which these virtues trade off in the determination of a best system. Plausibly, there is no robustly best system for our world: none that comes out best under any reasonable measures of the virtues and exchange rate between them. Some philosophers have argued that this entails that there are no Best System laws or chances in our world. I argue that this doesn't follow: rather, it follows that (some of) the Best System chances for our world are unsharp. (The situation with respect to laws is more complex.)