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In Memory of Richard Jeffrey: Some Reminiscences and Some Reflections on The Logic of Decision

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Alan Hájek
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Abstract

This paper is partly a tribute to Richard Jeffrey, partly a reflection on some of his writings, The Logic of Decision in particular. I begin with a brief biography and some fond reminiscences of Dick. I turn to some of the key tenets of his version of Bayesianism. All of these tenets are deployed in my discussion of his response to the St. Petersburg paradox, a notorious problem for decision theory that involves a game of infinite expectation. Prompted by that paradox, I conclude with some suggestions of avenues for future research.

Type
In Memory of Richard Jeffrey
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 73 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2004 Biennial Meeting of The Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers. Edited by Miriam Solomon , December 2006 , pp. 947 - 958
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

I thank Adam Elga, Matthias Hild, Peter Vranas, and especially Edie Jeffrey, Jim Joyce, and Daniel Nolan for very helpful feedback.

References

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