Event Detail

Fri Mar 6, 2009
60 Evans Hall
4:10–6 PM
Logic Colloquium
Branden Fitelson (UC Berkeley)
The Wason Task(s) and the Paradox of Confirmation

I will sketch out the analogy between the Wason Task(s) and the Paradox of Confirmation. This will mainly involve going through some existing historical discussions concerning the analogy, and developing a precise framework for refining and critiquing the analogy. I will explain what I think is right about the existing literature, and also what I think is wrong with it (i.e., what I think the disanalogies are). Along the way, I will make various historical observations about confirmation theory and some of the contemporary evaluative assessments of the behavior of subjects faced with Wason Task(s).