Re: Epistemology 201: The Science of Science

From: The Sophist (sophist_at_brown.edu)
Date: 02/08/05 

Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 01:04:20 -0500

Tony Orlow (aeo6) wrote:

> If something is known to be absolutely true, it has a probability of 1,
> and if false, then zero. If you say it has a 50/50 chance, that means
> the truth value of that statement as calculated is 0.5. What do you not
> get about the quatification of truth?

Your last statement is incredibly controversial. According to plenty,
saying that something has a 50/50 chance means that it is either true or
false, but our evidence makes each option appear equally likely to us,
which is quite different from what you seem to imply, that it has a
truth value that is genuinely in between truth and falsity. 

-- 
Aaron Boyden
The main division between the so-called Continental and Analytic 
traditions has been disputes over whether the task of being unclear 
should be carried out in natural language or in a formal system.

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