08: Scientific Rationality: Bayesianism vs. Reliabilism

How can novel, appropriate concepts be introduced in science? How can rational scientific change come about? How are scientific revolutions produced? How can advocates of very different scientific positions rationally discuss and resolve their differences? This seminar will explore two answers to these questions. Bayesian epistemology maintains that rational inquiry in science consists of adjusting probabilities of hypotheses in the light of evidence by rules that first emerged in the 18th century. Formal learning theory postulates that rational inquiry consists in using methods that are reliably converged to the truth. Each framework implies astonishing consequences for methods of inquiry.