An Objective Justification of Bayesianism II: The Consequences of Minimizing Inaccuracy 论文

2010Philosophy of Science引用 236
Philosophy and History of ScienceEpistemology, Ethics, and MetaphysicsBayesian Modeling and Causal Inference

摘要

In this article and its prequel, we derive Bayesianism from the following norm: Accuracy—an agent ought to minimize the inaccuracy of her partial beliefs. In the prequel, we make the norm mathematically precise; in this article, we derive its consequences. We show that the two core tenets of Bayesianism follow from Accuracy, while the characteristic claim of Objective Bayesianism follows from Accuracy together with an extra assumption. Finally, we show that Jeffrey Conditionalization violates Accuracy unless Rigidity is assumed, and we describe the alternative updating rule that Accuracy mandates in the absence of Rigidity.