Can there be reasoning with degrees of belief?

In this paper I am concerned with the question of whether degrees of belief can figure in reasoning processes that are executed by humans. It is generally accepted that outright beliefs and intentions can be part of reasoning processes, but the role of degrees of belief remains unclear. The literatu...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 190; no. 17; pp. 3535 - 3552
Autor principal: Staffel, Julia
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Nov2013
Materias:
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=92013105&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: hlh
    uiTerm: 92013105
    longDbName: Humanities International Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00397857
        4LI
      jtl: Synthese
      issn: 00397857
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Nov2013
      vid: 190
      iid: 17
      pid: 237
      pub: Springer Nature
    artinfo:
      ui:
        92013105
        10.1007/s11229-012-0209-5
      ppf: 3535
      ppct: 17
      formats:
        fmt:
          @attributes:
            type: P
            size: 156KB
      tig:
        atl: Can there be reasoning with degrees of belief?
      aug:
        au: Staffel, Julia
        affil: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
      su:
        Reasoning
        Probability theory
        Literature
        Bayesian analysis
        Human beings
        Argument
      sug:
        subj:
          Reasoning
          Probability theory
          Literature
          Bayesian analysis
          Human beings
          Argument
      keyword:
        Degrees of belief
        Harman
        Probability
      ab: In this paper I am concerned with the question of whether degrees of belief can figure in reasoning processes that are executed by humans. It is generally accepted that outright beliefs and intentions can be part of reasoning processes, but the role of degrees of belief remains unclear. The literature on subjective Bayesianism, which seems to be the natural place to look for discussions of the role of degrees of belief in reasoning, does not address the question of whether degrees of belief play a role in real agents’ reasoning processes. On the other hand, the philosophical literature on reasoning, which relies much less heavily on idealizing assumptions about reasoners than Bayesianism, is almost exclusively concerned with outright belief. One possible explanation for why no philosopher has yet developed an account of reasoning with degrees of belief is that reasoning with degrees of belief is not possible for humans. In this paper, I will consider three arguments for this claim. I will show why these arguments are flawed, and conclude that, at least as far as these arguments are concerned, it seems like there is no good reason why the topic of reasoning with degrees of belief has received so little attention.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: Y
      custom: Synthese is a copyright of Springer, 2013. All Rights Reserved.
      item: Synthese
      holder: Springer Nature
      dt:
        @attributes:
          year: 2013
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N