Peter Achinstein: Evidence, Explanation, and Realism: Essays in Philosophy of Science

Peter Achinstein: Evidence, Explanation, and Realism: Essays in Philosophy of Science Igor Douven

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Peter Achinstein: Evidence, Explanation, and Realism: Essays in Philosophy of Science 2011 Science & Education 10.1007/s11191-011-9405-9 douven2011-peter-achinstein-evidence-explanat douven2011-peter-achinstein-evidence-explanat.txt, the project's staged copy 4205769a2a1455dd9b162ea09de044b752aedfec open-access philosophy-of-science

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0 spans located by searching the stored text for the quote's exact words, allowing any whitespace between them critique Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. philosophical accounts of evidence Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. review review Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Explanatory adequacy is context-dependent because what it takes to make something understandable varies with the audience's interests and background knowledge, so the same act explains for one hearer and not another Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Usage data does not settle which analysis of a concept is right, so the choice between rival definitions has to be made on other grounds. what this limits: an argument that settles a definition by appeal to how the word is ordinarily used: linguistic intuitions rarely point to precisely one analysis, and arbitration between explications has to rest on something other than language-use data Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The counterexample that motivates the alternative definition only bites under one of the word's two ordinary uses, and dissolves under the other. what this limits: the lottery counterexample against the Bayesian account: it turns on the CATEGORICAL use of 'evidence', and under the graded use the same information is evidence for John's winning to an exceedingly low degree and for Mary's to a very high one Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The book reprints a theory the reviewer says is no longer influential, without answering the criticisms that made it so. what this limits: the explanation essays in this collection: the reviewer states the theory is no longer influential because of criticisms levelled against it, and that the volume reprints the essays without indicating why the author believes it still stands Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. evidence evidence Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. potential evidence potential evidence Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. veridical evidence veridical evidence Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. explanatory connection explanatory connection Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. theoretical virtues theoretical virtues Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. evidence - BAYESIAN: E is evidence for H exactly when H becomes more probable given E; purely formal, and the account the rest of the argument is aimed at Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. evidence - ACHINSTEIN'S, SPLIT IN TWO: the hypothesis must be probable given the evidence, not merely more probable, AND there must be an explanatory connection - probable for POTENTIAL evidence, actually existing for VERIDICAL evidence Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. evidence - THE REVIEWER'S PURELY PROBABILISTIC DEFINITION: probable given E and more probable than unconditionally, which he argues covers every case the explanatory clause was added for Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. evidence - CATEGORICAL vs GRADED: the same word is used both for a yes-or-no relation and for a matter of degree, and which one is meant decides whether the lottery case is a problem at all Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. contradicts → Peter Achinstein's definition of potential and veridical evidence Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. potential evidence —is-a→ evidence potential evidence evidence strength of the relation: 1 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. veridical evidence —is-a→ evidence veridical evidence evidence strength of the relation: 1 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. potential evidence —distinct-from→ veridical evidence potential evidence veridical evidence strength of the relation: 1 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. EVIDENCE CORRECTED (RE-GROUNDED - THE POINTER WAS WRONG, NOT THE CLAIM) · Achinstein's lottery case: John holds one ticket in a fair 100-ticket lottery and Mary holds the other 99. EVIDENCE CORRECTED: RE-GROUNDED - THE POINTER WAS WRONG, NOT THE CLAIM. The old evidence was verbatim, anchored and correctly cut, and it contained NONE of this claim's numbers (100, 99). The paper states the claim in one sentence elsewhere and the tagger did not use it. the project, 2026-08-23: 'WE HAVE SPENT THE DAY VERIFYING THAT QUOTES ARE REAL AND NONE OF IT ASKS WHETHER THEY ARE RELEVANT.' Confirmed by reading the claim, the old span and the candidate together; the candidate carries every number AND the claim's own content words. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Achinstein's own account replaces probability-raising with a high-probability requirement: the hypothesis must be probable given the putative evidence, not merely more probable than before. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Achinstein additionally requires an explanatory connection between evidence and hypothesis, which need only be probable for potential evidence but must actually obtain for veridical evidence. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Douven's purely probabilistic definition solves the lottery problem and also handles Jim's pill-and-pregnancy case. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Douven allows that the information is not evidence but still a good reason to believe the symptoms will be relieved, which may fuel the intuition that it is evidence. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Achinstein argues that Bayesian and rival philosophical accounts of evidence are too weak to be used in science and wrongly treat evidential status as knowable a priori, whereas two historical case studies show it can be an empirical matter. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Because Achinstein makes the act of explaining central, whether someone explained something depends on that person's intention, so uttering words that in fact produce understanding without the intention to do so is not explaining. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Achinstein's work on explanation is no longer influential, largely because of criticisms leveled against it. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Antirealists who hold out against Perrin's findings come to resemble the skeptic about the external world in general. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. purely probabilistic definition purely probabilistic definition Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. explanation explanation Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. scientific realism scientific realism Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. underdetermination underdetermination Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. theoretical virtues theoretical virtues Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. potential evidence potential evidence Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. veridical evidence veridical evidence Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution.

The full text of this article is not redistributable, so it is not included here. The evidence sentences are withheld with it; the tag layer and its grounding status remain. The article itself is at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-011-9405-9.