9,030 research outputs found
Vasudevan on Judy Benjamin
No full textAnubav Vasudevan characterized van Fraassen's ``Infomin'' solution to the Judy Benjamin Problem (i.e. the solution by way of minimizing the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the posterior and prior) as an implementation of a ``brand of epistemic charity" taking ``the form of an assumption on the part of Judy Benjamin that her informant's evidential report leaves out no relevant information". After an analysis of the example that led Vasudevan to this way of thinking about Infomin, as well as of a new one that supports the rival position of Douven and Romeijn in favor of minimizing the inverse Kullback-Leibler divergence between the posterior and the prior, we come to a different and more enlightening characterization of Infomin's implicit assumptions
A new resolution of the Judy Benjamin problem
No full textVan Fraassen's Judy Benjamin problem has generally been taken to show that not all rational changes of belief can be modelled in a probabilistic framework if the available update rules are restricted to Bayes's rule and Jeffrey's generalization thereof. But alternative rules based on distance functions between probability assignments that allegedly can handle the problem seem to have counterintuitive consequences. Taking our cue from a recent proposal by Bradley, we argue that Jeffrey's rule can solve the Judy Benjamin problem after all. Moreover, we show that the specific instance of Jeffrey's rule that solves the Judy Benjamin problem can be underpinned by a particular distance function. Finally, we extend the set of distance functions to ones that take into account the varying degrees to which propositions may be epistemically entrenched
A new resolution of the Judy Benjamin problem
No full textVan Fraassen’s Judy Benjamin problem has generally been taken to show that not all rational changes of belief can be modelled in a probabilistic framework if the available update rules are restricted to Bayes’s rule and Jeffrey’s generalization thereof. But alternative rules based on distance functions between probability assignments that allegedly can handle the problem seem to have counterintuitive consequences. Taking our cue from a recent proposal by Bradley, we argue that Jeffrey’s rule can solve the Judy Benjamin problem after all. Moreover, we show that the specific instance of Jeffrey’s rule that solves the Judy Benjamin problem can be underpinned by a particular distance function. Finally, we extend the set of distance functions to ones that take into account the varying degrees to which propositions may be epistemically entrenched
Judy Benjamin is a Sleeping Beauty
No full textConsider van Fraassen's ( 1981) Judy Benjamin (JB) problem. Judy is dropped in an area that is divided vertically in Blue (B) and Red (R) and horizontally in Headquarters (Q) and Second Company (S). These divisions define four quadrants, as in Figure 1 (roman script headings). Judy initially believes that there is an equal chance of being in each quadrant. She is then told by a fully reliable source that if she is in R, then there is a chance of q > 0.50 that she is in Q. Now ask yourself: what should Judy's credence be that she is in B on the basis of this information? I am interested here in the limiting case of this problem in which q = 1. Let us call this limiting case the JB′ problem
A new resolution of the Judy Benjamin problem
No full textVan Fraassen’s Judy Benjamin problem has generally been taken to show that not all rational changes of belief can be modelled in a probabilistic framework if the available update rules are restricted to Bayes’s rule and Jeffrey’s generalization thereof. But alternative rules based on distance functions between probability assignments that allegedly can handle the problem seem to have counterintuitive consequences. Taking our cue from a recent proposal by Bradley, we argue that Jeffrey’s rule can solve the Judy Benjamin problem after all. Moreover, we show that the specific instance of Jeffrey’s rule that solves the Judy Benjamin problem can be underpinned by a particular distance function. Finally, we extend the set of distance functions to ones that take into account the varying degrees to which propositions may be epistemically entrenched. Often a learning experience makes us certain of a proposition we were previously uncertain of. But, as Jeffrey famously pointed out, not all learning is like that. Sometimes learning consists in a person’s becoming more certain of some proposition o
J.C. Painter letter to Benjamin Lundy
No full textLetter from J.E. Painter to (presumably) Benjamin Lundy, answering a request for information about the history and operations of the Underground Railroad. Letter includes details of a story of an ex-slave transported on the Underground Railroad through Ohio and stories of the plight of other fugitive slaves crossing the Ohio River.
Benjamin Lundy (1789-1839) was a prominent Quaker abolitionist best known for his development of abolitionist periodicals. His "Genius of Universal Emancipation" was first published in 1821 from his home in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and enjoyed a wide circulation across the antebellum United States. In the 1820s, the young William Lloyd Garrison came to work for The Genius. Benjamin Lundy traveled widely seeking subscriptions to The Genius, giving talks about the anti-slavery movement, and observing and documenting the conditions of enslaved people across the Americas. He was also involved in the establishment of freed slave colonies in Mexico
Mexican land grant contract to Benjamin Lundy, March 10, 1835 (English)
No full textLegal document from an unsigned officer to Benjamin Lundy, authorizing him rights as empresario to a tract of land in then-Mexico. The document extends a previous treaty made to Lundy by the government of Mexico from November 17, 1823 -- presumably, this land is to be the site of Lundy's freed slave colony. Original Spanish-language document is also a part of this collection. Benjamin Lundy (1789-1839) was a prominent Quaker abolitionist best known for his development of abolitionist periodicals. His Genius of Universal Emancipation was first published in 1821 from his home in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and enjoyed a wide circulation across the antebellum United States. In the 1820s, the young William Lloyd Garrison came to work for The Genius. Benjamin Lundy traveled widely seeking subscriptions to The Genius, giving talks about the anti-slavery movement, and observing and documenting the conditions of enslaved people across the Americas. He was also involved in the establishment of freed slave colonies in Mexico
Learning From Conditionals: Judy Benjamin's Other Problems
No full text. The Judy Benjamin problem, a problem in probability kinematics, deals with the updating of belief functions where the new evidence itself gives the new conditional probability of some sentence. Similar problems arise in deterministic (as opposed to probabilistic) epistemology. We examine one such problem and propose a solution. 1 Introduction: The Judy Benjamin Problem In Bayesian epistemology, when an epistemic agent receives evidence e, she revises her prior probability function P (representing her current belief state) to her posterior probability function (representing her revised belief state) Pe which is given by Pe (h) = P (hje) = ae P (he) P (e) if 0 ! P (e) undefined otherwise for any sentence h: In this orthodox Bayesian approach, the evidence e is deemed to be certain and incorrigible. The function P e and all its future embodiments (via conditionalization) continue to assign probability 1 to e. This updating process may be viewed as follows. The agent's prior is ..
Eli Nichols letter to Benjamin Lundy, March 17th, 1839
No full textFriendly note from Eli Nichols to Benjamin Lundy covering topics in contemporary abolition, ranging from the social status of abolitionists to the oppression of the poor. Much of the letter concerns a review of contemporary social movements in equality-based education, including Shaker and Quaker communities. The letter concludes in discussion of Nichols' and Lundy's interest in forming a freed slave colony or community in then-Mexico, and describes the climate and culture of those regions in detail. Benjamin Lundy (1789-1839) was a prominent Quaker abolitionist best known for his development of abolitionist periodicals. His Genius of Universal Emancipation was first published in 1821 from his home in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and enjoyed a wide circulation across the antebellum United States. In the 1820s, the young William Lloyd Garrison came to work for The Genius. Benjamin Lundy traveled widely seeking subscriptions to The Genius, giving talks about the anti-slavery movement, and observing and documenting the conditions of enslaved people across the Americas. He was also involved in the establishment of freed slave colonies in Mexico
Mexican land grant contract to Benjamin Lundy, March 10, 1835 (Spanish)
No full textLegal document in Spanish from the government of Tamaulipas, Mexico, to Benjamin Lundy, which appears to grant Lundy the rights of empresario for his proposed colony for freed slaves in Tamaulipas. This document appears to be truncated; it ends abruptly after 2 pages. Collection also includes a period translation of this contract with Lundy in English, which appears to contain the full text of the agreement. Benjamin Lundy (1789-1839) was a prominent Quaker abolitionist best known for his development of abolitionist periodicals. His Genius of Universal Emancipation was first published in 1821 from his home in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and enjoyed a wide circulation across the antebellum United States. In the 1820s, the young William Lloyd Garrison came to work for The Genius. Benjamin Lundy traveled widely seeking subscriptions to The Genius, giving talks about the anti-slavery movement, and observing and documenting the conditions of enslaved people across the Americas. He was also involved in the establishment of freed slave colonies in Mexico
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