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SUMMARY:A surprising epistemic advantage of accommodation over prediction 
 - Finnur Dellsén (University of Iceland)
DTSTART:20190306T130000Z
DTEND:20190306T143000Z
UID:TALK118333@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Matt Farr
DESCRIPTION:There are two ways for a piece of data to confirm a theory. If
  the theory was designed to fit the data\, we say that the theory accommod
 ates the data. If not\, we say that the theory predicts the data. Many phi
 losophers argue that prediction typically confirms theories more strongly 
 than otherwise similar instances of accommodation\; others deny this and p
 lace accommodation on a par with prediction. This paper argues that\, perh
 aps surprisingly\, there is a respect in which accommodation is typically 
 epistemically superior to prediction. More precisely\, the fact that a the
 ory T accommodates some data D is\, under certain common conditions\, a pr
 o tanto reason to place more confidence in T than if T had been used to pr
 edict D under those same conditions. In some cases\, this pro tanto advant
 age of accommodation may even outweigh whatever epistemic advantage there 
 might be to prediction\, making accommodation epistemically superior to pr
 ediction all things considered.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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