Franklin, Alexander (2023) A Challenge for Humean Everettians. [Preprint]

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Abstract

I show that recent attempts to develop Humean Everettianism are inconsistent with the Principal Principle. Wilhelm (2022) develops an account of probability in Everettian Quantum Mechanics that purports to solve the incoherence, quantitative, practical, and epistemic problems of probability faced by the Everett interpretation; he does so by linking probabilities to a Lewis-style Best System Analysis of the outcomes along branches, resulting in 'centered chances'. Unfortunately, this approach cannot work: it implies that intrinsic duplicates will have distinct credences at any time, and provides no account of which credence in particular any specific agent should adopt. As such, this view of probability does not provide a guide to action and severs the credence-chance link; I suggest general reasons that views of this ilk cannot provide a solution to the practical or epistemic problems. I develop this worry and argue that it stems from a conflation of two types of probability that come apart in many world settings. This distinction also helps explain where branch-counting approaches go wrong.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Franklin, Alexander alexander.r.franklin@kcl.ac.uk 0000-0001-6034-4575
Keywords:	Everettian probability; centered chances; Best System; Everettian Quantum Mechanics; Principal Principle
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User:	Dr Alexander Franklin
Date Deposited:	30 Sep 2024 13:57
Last Modified:	30 Sep 2024 13:57
Item ID:	23975
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date:	October 2023
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/23975

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• A Challenge for Humean Everettians. (deposited 27 Oct 2023 20:01)
  • A Challenge for Humean Everettians. (deposited 30 Sep 2024 13:57) [Currently Displayed]

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