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Full Description
Wolfgang Spohn presents the first full account of the dynamic laws of belief, by means of ranking theory. This book is his long-awaited presentation of ranking theory and its ramifications. He motivates and introduces the basic notion of a ranking function, which recognises degrees of belief and at the same time accounts for belief simpliciter. He provides a measurement theory for ranking functions, accounts for auto-epistemology in ranking-theoretic terms, and explicates the basic notion of a (deductive or non-deductive) reason. The rich philosophical applications of Spohn's theory include: a new account of lawlikeness, an account of ceteris paribus laws, a new perspective on dispositions, a rich and detailed theory of deterministic causation, an understanding of natural modalities as an objectification of epistemic modalities, an account of the experiential basis of belief--and thus a restructuring of the debate on foundationalism and coherentism (and externalism and contextualism)--and, finally, a revival of fundamental a priori principles of reason fathoming the basics of empiricism and the relation between reason and truth, and concluding in a proof of a weak principle of causality. All this is accompanied by thorough comparative discussions, on a general level as well as within each topic, and in particular with respect to probability theory.
Contents
Preface ; 1. Introduction ; 2. Belief and Its Objects ; 3. The Probabilistic Way ; 4. The Representation of Belief: Some Standard Moves ; 5. Ranking Functions ; 6. Reasons and Apriority ; 7. Conditional Independence and Ranking Nets ; 8. The Measurement of Ranks ; 9. Supposing, Updating, and Reflection ; 10. Ranks and Probabilities ; 11. Comparisons ; 12. Laws and Their Confirmation ; 13. Ceteris Paribus Conditions and Dispositions ; 14. Causation ; 15. Objectification ; 16. Justification, Perception, and Consciousness ; 17. The A Priori Structure of Reasons ; Bibliography ; Name Index ; Subject Index
