Ockham’s Razors: A User’s Manual, by Elliott Sober

Mind ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 127 (507) ◽  
pp. 891-902
Author(s):  
Joel Velasco
Keyword(s):  
Elliott Sober

Bayesianism and IBE

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Model ◽  
Group Selection ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
Hybrid View ◽  
Elliott Sober ◽  
Scientific Arguments ◽  
Explanatory Virtue

Different views have been proposed about how Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) and Bayesianism might be compatible with one another. One is a hybrid view, according to which explanatory considerations play a role in driving the Bayesian machinery. Another is an ‘emergent compatibilist’ view, in which an independently motivated Bayesian model of IBE is provided, so that explanatory considerations emerge from the Bayesian machinery rather than driving it. Specific scientific arguments can serve as test cases for these general views. The chapter argues that the case of Williams’ argument against group selection, discussed by Elliott Sober, is better understood with the emergent compatibilist picture, than with the hybrid view. This analysis of the case challenges Elliott Sober’s claim that the epistemic significance of appeals to the explanatory virtue of parsimony is highly case-specific. Instead, a more unified picture of IBE and its connection to Bayesianism is suggested.

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