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Bayesianism and Unification: A Reply to Wayne Myrvold*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Marc Lange
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Abstract

Myrvold (2003) has proposed an attractive Bayesian account of why theories that unify phenomena tend to derive greater epistemic support from those phenomena than do theories that fail to unify them. It is argued, however, that “unification” in Myrvold's sense is both too easy and too difficult for theories to achieve. Myrvold's account fails to capture what it is that makes unification sometimes count in a theory's favor.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 71 , Issue 2 , April 2004 , pp. 205 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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