In Defence of Objective Bayesianism

In Defence of Objective Bayesianism PDF Author: Jon Williamson
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191576131
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book

Book Description
How strongly should you believe the various propositions that you can express? That is the key question facing Bayesian epistemology. Subjective Bayesians hold that it is largely (though not entirely) up to the agent as to which degrees of belief to adopt. Objective Bayesians, on the other hand, maintain that appropriate degrees of belief are largely (though not entirely) determined by the agent's evidence. This book states and defends a version of objective Bayesian epistemology. According to this version, objective Bayesianism is characterized by three norms: · Probability - degrees of belief should be probabilities · Calibration - they should be calibrated with evidence · Equivocation - they should otherwise equivocate between basic outcomes Objective Bayesianism has been challenged on a number of different fronts. For example, some claim it is poorly motivated, or fails to handle qualitative evidence, or yields counter-intuitive degrees of belief after updating, or suffers from a failure to learn from experience. It has also been accused of being computationally intractable, susceptible to paradox, language dependent, and of not being objective enough. Especially suitable for graduates or researchers in philosophy of science, foundations of statistics and artificial intelligence, the book argues that these criticisms can be met and that objective Bayesianism is a promising theory with an exciting agenda for further research.

In Defence of Objective Bayesianism

In Defence of Objective Bayesianism PDF Author: Jon Williamson
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191576131
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book

Book Description
How strongly should you believe the various propositions that you can express? That is the key question facing Bayesian epistemology. Subjective Bayesians hold that it is largely (though not entirely) up to the agent as to which degrees of belief to adopt. Objective Bayesians, on the other hand, maintain that appropriate degrees of belief are largely (though not entirely) determined by the agent's evidence. This book states and defends a version of objective Bayesian epistemology. According to this version, objective Bayesianism is characterized by three norms: · Probability - degrees of belief should be probabilities · Calibration - they should be calibrated with evidence · Equivocation - they should otherwise equivocate between basic outcomes Objective Bayesianism has been challenged on a number of different fronts. For example, some claim it is poorly motivated, or fails to handle qualitative evidence, or yields counter-intuitive degrees of belief after updating, or suffers from a failure to learn from experience. It has also been accused of being computationally intractable, susceptible to paradox, language dependent, and of not being objective enough. Especially suitable for graduates or researchers in philosophy of science, foundations of statistics and artificial intelligence, the book argues that these criticisms can be met and that objective Bayesianism is a promising theory with an exciting agenda for further research.

The Logic of Objective Bayesianism

The Logic of Objective Bayesianism PDF Author: H. L. F. Verbraak
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789090038858
Category : Bayesian statistical decision theory
Languages : en
Pages : 195

Get Book

Book Description


Methods, Methodologies, and Perspectives in the Humanities and Social Sciences With Particular Reference to Islamic Studies: A Critical Rationalist Interpretation

Methods, Methodologies, and Perspectives in the Humanities and Social Sciences With Particular Reference to Islamic Studies: A Critical Rationalist Interpretation PDF Author: Ali Paya
Publisher: ICAS Press
ISBN: 1907905529
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 752

Get Book

Book Description
This book presents the first comprehensive introduction to methods and methodologies in the humanities and social sciences in general, and Islamic Studies in particular, from a critical rationalist point of view. The book aims to be a self-sufficient theoretical and practical guide to the topics that it introduces. It contains a large selection of fully worked out review activities and review questions plus topics for further discussion which are devised to assist readers to better understand the issues which are discussed in the book. Last but not least, all efforts have been made to make sure that most (if not all) of the reading materials which are recommended in the book are not only of the highest quality but also freely available on the internet.

Bayesian Philosophy of Science

Bayesian Philosophy of Science PDF Author: Jan Sprenger
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191652229
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Get Book

Book Description
How should we reason in science? Jan Sprenger and Stephan Hartmann offer a refreshing take on classical topics in philosophy of science, using a single key concept to explain and to elucidate manifold aspects of scientific reasoning. They present good arguments and good inferences as being characterized by their effect on our rational degrees of belief. Refuting the view that there is no place for subjective attitudes in 'objective science', Sprenger and Hartmann explain the value of convincing evidence in terms of a cycle of variations on the theme of representing rational degrees of belief by means of subjective probabilities (and changing them by Bayesian conditionalization). In doing so, they integrate Bayesian inference—the leading theory of rationality in social science—with the practice of 21st century science. Bayesian Philosophy of Science thereby shows how modeling such attitudes improves our understanding of causes, explanations, confirming evidence, and scientific models in general. It combines a scientifically minded and mathematically sophisticated approach with conceptual analysis and attention to methodological problems of modern science, especially in statistical inference, and is therefore a valuable resource for philosophers and scientific practitioners.

The Science of Conjecture

The Science of Conjecture PDF Author: James Franklin
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421418800
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 520

Get Book

Book Description
The Science of Conjecture provides a history of rational methods of dealing with uncertainty and explores the coming to consciousness of the human understanding of risk.

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Information

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Information PDF Author: Luciano Floridi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317633490
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 447

Get Book

Book Description
Information and communication technology occupies a central place in the modern world, with society becoming increasingly dependent on it every day. It is therefore unsurprising that it has become a growing subject area in contemporary philosophy, which relies heavily on informational concepts. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Information is an outstanding reference source to the key topics and debates in this exciting subject and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising over thirty chapters by a team of international contributors the Handbook is divided into four parts: basic ideas quantitative and formal aspects natural and physical aspects human and semantic aspects. Within these sections central issues are examined, including probability, the logic of information, informational metaphysics, the philosophy of data and evidence, and the epistemic value of information. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Information is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy, computer science and communication studies.

Knowing Science

Knowing Science PDF Author: Alexander Bird
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019960665X
Category : Knowledge, Theory of
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Get Book

Book Description
In Knowing Science, Alexander Bird presents an epistemology of science that rejects empiricism and gives a central place to the concept of knowledge. Science aims at knowledge and progresses when it adds to the stock of knowledge. That knowledge is social knowing--it is known by thescientific community as a whole. Evidence is that from which knowledge can be obtained by inference. From this, it follows that evidence is knowledge, and is not limited to perception, nor to observation. Observation supplies evidence that is basic relative to a field of enquiry and can be highlynon-perceptual. Theoretical knowledge is typically gained by inference to the only explanation, in which competing plausible hypotheses are falsified by the evidence. In cases where not all competing hypotheses are refuted, scientific hypotheses are not known but instead possess varying degrees ofplausibility. Plausibilities in the light of the evidence are probabilities and link eliminative explanationism to Bayesian conditionalization. Bird argues that scientific realism and anti-realism as global metascientific claims should be rejected-the track record gives us only local metascientificclaims.

Probabilistic Logics and Probabilistic Networks

Probabilistic Logics and Probabilistic Networks PDF Author: Rolf Haenni
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400700083
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 154

Get Book

Book Description
While probabilistic logics in principle might be applied to solve a range of problems, in practice they are rarely applied - perhaps because they seem disparate, complicated, and computationally intractable. This programmatic book argues that several approaches to probabilistic logic fit into a simple unifying framework in which logically complex evidence is used to associate probability intervals or probabilities with sentences. Specifically, Part I shows that there is a natural way to present a question posed in probabilistic logic, and that various inferential procedures provide semantics for that question, while Part II shows that there is the potential to develop computationally feasible methods to mesh with this framework. The book is intended for researchers in philosophy, logic, computer science and statistics. A familiarity with mathematical concepts and notation is presumed, but no advanced knowledge of logic or probability theory is required.

Bayesian Psychometric Modeling

Bayesian Psychometric Modeling PDF Author: Roy Levy
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 131535697X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 357

Get Book

Book Description
A Single Cohesive Framework of Tools and Procedures for Psychometrics and Assessment Bayesian Psychometric Modeling presents a unified Bayesian approach across traditionally separate families of psychometric models. It shows that Bayesian techniques, as alternatives to conventional approaches, offer distinct and profound advantages in achieving many goals of psychometrics. Adopting a Bayesian approach can aid in unifying seemingly disparate—and sometimes conflicting—ideas and activities in psychometrics. This book explains both how to perform psychometrics using Bayesian methods and why many of the activities in psychometrics align with Bayesian thinking. The first part of the book introduces foundational principles and statistical models, including conceptual issues, normal distribution models, Markov chain Monte Carlo estimation, and regression. Focusing more directly on psychometrics, the second part covers popular psychometric models, including classical test theory, factor analysis, item response theory, latent class analysis, and Bayesian networks. Throughout the book, procedures are illustrated using examples primarily from educational assessments. A supplementary website provides the datasets, WinBUGS code, R code, and Netica files used in the examples.

Best Explanations

Best Explanations PDF Author: Kevin McCain
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198746903
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Get Book

Book Description
Twenty philosophers offer new essays examining the form of reasoning known as inference to the best explanation - widely used in science and in our everyday lives, yet still controversial. Best Explanations represents the state of the art when it comes to understanding, criticizing, and defending this form of reasoning.