Testability and Ockham’s Razor: How Formal and Statistical Learning Theory Converge in the New Riddle of Induction.
Nelson Goodman’s new riddle of induction forcefully illustrates a challenge that must be confronted by any adequate theory of inductive inference: provide some basis for choosing among alternative hypotheses that fit past data but make divergent predictions. One response to this challenge is to dist...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Philosophical Logic Vol. 38; no. 5; pp. 471 - 490 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Oct2009
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=44190422&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 44190422 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00223611 JPH jtl: Journal of Philosophical Logic issn: 00223611 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Oct2009 vid: 38 iid: 5 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 44190422 10.1007/s10992-009-9111-0 ppf: 471 ppct: 19 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 252KB tig: atl: Testability and Ockham’s Razor: How Formal and Statistical Learning Theory Converge in the New Riddle of Induction. aug: au: Steel, Daniel affil: Department of Philosophy, Michigan State University, 503 S. Kedzie Hall, East Lansing, MI 48823-1032, USA su: Essays Riddles Learning theories in education Goodman, Nelson, 1906-1998 Authors sug: subj: Essays Riddles Learning theories in education Goodman, Nelson, 1906-1998 Authors keyword: Formal learning theory Goodman New riddle of induction Ockham’s razor Ockham's razor Simplicity Statistical learning theory Testability ab: Nelson Goodman’s new riddle of induction forcefully illustrates a challenge that must be confronted by any adequate theory of inductive inference: provide some basis for choosing among alternative hypotheses that fit past data but make divergent predictions. One response to this challenge is to distinguish among alternatives by means of some epistemically significant characteristic beyond fit with the data. Statistical learning theory takes this approach by showing how a concept similar to Popper’s notion of degrees of testability is linked to minimizing expected predictive error. In contrast, formal learning theory appeals to Ockham’s razor, which it justifies by reference to the goal of enhancing efficient convergence to the truth. In this essay, I show that, despite their differences, statistical and formal learning theory yield precisely the same result for a class of inductive problems that I call strongly VC ordered, of which Goodman’s riddle is just one example. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Journal of Philosophical Logic is a copyright of Springer, 2009. All Rights Reserved. item: Journal of Philosophical Logic holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2009 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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