Event Detail

Fri Mar 9, 2018
60 Evans Hall
4:10–5 PM
Logic Colloquium
Ray Briggs (Stanford University)
Real-Life Newcomb Problems

Decision theorists have spilled much ink over the difference between causal and evidential decision rules, whose recommendations differ in puzzle cases. Recently, a class of rivals to causal and evidential rules, aimed at solving more complicated puzzle cases.

But how realistic are the puzzle cases where these decision rules disagree? I argue that such cases are rare, and can often be handled without addressing the difference between decision rules, by changing other parts of the problem description.