Belief and Counterfactuals: A Study in Means-End Philosophy

205 Pages·2021·1.56 MB·English

by  Franz Huber

Belief and Counterfactuals

Belief and
Counterfactuals
A Study in Means-End Philosophy
FRANZ HUBER
1
3
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Huber,Franz,1977–author.|Huber,Franz,1977–editor.
Title:Beliefandcounterfactuals:astudyinmeans-endphilosophy/
FranzHuber,UniversityofToronto.
Description:NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,2021–|
Includebibliographicalreferences.
Identifiers:LCCN2021014207(print)|LCCN2021014208(ebook)|
ISBN9780199976119(hardback)|ISBN9780197585733(epub)|
ISBN9780199976126(ebook)|ISBN9780197585740(ebookother)
Subjects:LCSH:Beliefanddoubt.|Truthfulnessandfalsehood.|Endsandmeans.
Classification:LCCBD215.H8132021(print)|LCCBD215(ebook)|
DDC121/.6—dc23LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2021014207
LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2021014208
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780199976119.001.0001
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
PrintedbySheridanBooks,Inc.,UnitedStatesofAmerica.
InmemoriamIdaHuber

Contents
Preface ix
1. Introduction 1
2. BeliefFirst 20
2.1 IdealDoxasticAgents 20
2.2 BeliefandEnds 23
2.3 ConditionalBeliefandBeliefRevision 26
3. BeliefRevision 35
3.1 TheAGMTheoryofBeliefRevision 35
3.2 SystemsofSpheres 45
3.3 IteratedBeliefRevision 50
4. ConditionalBelief 62
4.1 RankingTheory:StaticRules 62
4.2 RankingTheory:DynamicRules 71
4.3 IteratedBeliefRevisionRevisited 81
5. WhyShouldI? 93
5.1 TheConsistencyArgument 93
5.2 TheConsistencyArgumentContinued 104
5.3 TheConsistencyArgumentCompleted 116
5.4 HypotheticalImperatives 121
5.5 ConditionalObligationandConditionalBelief 130
5.6 Appendix:Proofs 137
6. ApplicationsinEpistemology 149
6.1 ConceptualBeliefChangeandLogicalLearning 149
6.2 LearningIndicativeConditionals 159
6.2.1 Furtherexamples. 168
6.3 InDefenseofRigidity 170
Bibliography 177
Index 191

Preface
Thisbookisthefirstoftwovolumesonbeliefandcounterfactuals.
Itconsistsofsixofatotalofelevenchapters.Thereareatleastthree
reasonsforsplittingwhatoriginallywasintendedtobeonevolume
intotwo.Onereasonistopical:thefirstvolumeisconcernedpri-
marilywithquestionsinepistemology,whilethesecondwilldeal
withissuesthataremoremetaphysicalinnature.Anotherreason
is content-related in a different way: the first volume, especially
chapters 3 and 4, is somewhat expository in character. A third
reasonpertainstolength:Iwantedtowriteashortbook.Thatbeing
said, philosophical problems are entangled with each other. The
introductorychapter1givesanoverviewofallelevenchaptersof
whatstillisoneproject,aswellasitsunifyingapproach:means-end
philosophy.
I am grateful to Igor Douven, Kenny Easwaran, Stephan Hart-
mann, Richard Pettigrew, Thomas Kroedel, Christoph Schmidt-
Petri,MiriamSchoenfield,andJonathanWeisbergfortheircom-
ments on parts of an earlier version of this book; to Peter Ohlin
and Oxford University Press for their flexibility; as well as to the
refereesfortheirconstructiveguidance.
IamverygratefultoAliceHuang,AaronKenna,andEricRaidl
for carefully studying all of an earlier version of this book. Their
feedbackhasbeenextremelyhelpful.
For the same reason I would like to thank Wolfgang Spohn.
However,inhiscasemygratitudeextendsfarbeyondhisfeedback
onearlierversionsofthisbook.Itincludeshissupport,inmanyand
variedways,overclosetotwodecades,aswellashisphilosophical
contributions.Thesehavemanyfeaturesandvirtues.Theonethat
standsoutisthattheyaregroundbreaking.Thisisobviousforhis
work on ranking theory. It is also true of his work on decision