Article ID: CBB000410711

Too Odd (Not) to Be True? A Reply to Olsson (2002)

unapi

In 'Corroborating Testimony, Probability and Surprise', Erik J. Olsson ascribes to L. Jonathan Cohen the claims that if two witnesses provide us with the same information, then the less probable the information is, the more confident we may be that the information is true (C), and the stronger the information is corroborated (C*). We question whether Cohen intends anything like claims (C) and (C*). Furthermore, he discusses the concurrence of witness reports within a context of independent witnesses, whereas the witnesses in Olsson's model are not independent in the standard sense. We argue that there is much more than, in Olsson's words, 'a grain of truth' to claim (C), both on his own characterization as well as on Cohen's characterization of the witnesses. We present an analysis for independent witnesses in the contexts of decision-making under risk and decision-making under uncertainty and generalize the model for n witnesses. As to claim (C*), Olsson's argument is contingent on the choice of a particular measure of corroboration and is not robust in the face of alternative measures. Finally, we delimit the set of cases to which Olsson's model is applicable.

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Description With reply by Olsson:


Includes Series Articles

Article Olsson, Erik J. (2002) Corroborating Testimony and Ignorance: A Reply to Bovens, Fitelson, Hartmann and Snyder. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (p. 565). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000410711/

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Authors & Contributors
Galavotti, Maria Carla
Sarah Ehlers
Radek Kundt
Gerardo Ienna
Renaud Debailly
Esselborn, Stefan
Concepts
Philosophy of science
Philosophy
Controversies and disputes
Probability and statistics
Truth
Epistemology
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
19th century
18th century
20th century, early
17th century
Places
France
England
Great Britain
Institutions
Royal Society of London
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