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Piecewise Versus Total Support: How to Deal with Background Information in Likelihood Arguments

Jantzen, Benjamin (2014) Piecewise Versus Total Support: How to Deal with Background Information in Likelihood Arguments. Philosophy of Science, 81 (3). pp. 313-331.

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Abstract

The use of the Law of Likelihood (LL) as a general tool for assessing rival hypotheses has been criticized for its ambiguous treatment of background information. The LL endorses radically different answers depending on what information is designated as background versus evidence. I argue that once one distinguishes between two questions about evidentiary support, the ambiguity vanishes. I demonstrate this resolution by applying it to a debate over the status of the ‘fine-tuning argument’.

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Item Type: Published Article or Volume
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Jantzen, Benjaminbjantzen@vt.edu
Keywords: likelihood, fine-tuning, background information, observation selection effect, total evidence
Subjects: General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > Science and Religion
Depositing User: Benjamin Jantzen
Date Deposited: 01 Feb 2015 00:49
Last Modified: 01 Feb 2015 00:49
Item ID: 11038
Journal or Publication Title: Philosophy of Science
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Official URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/676536
DOI or Unique Handle: 10.1086/676536
Subjects: General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > Science and Religion
Date: July 2014
Page Range: pp. 313-331
Volume: 81
Number: 3
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/11038

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