Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Brown-Bag Meetings

Occasionally, visitors to the department give presentations of works in progress. This informal and irregular series takes place in Goodbody 107.

The Wason Task(s) and The Paradox of Confirmation

1 p.m., Feb 20, 2009

Branden Fitelson
Dept. of Philosophy
University of California, Berkeley

ABSTRACT: 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).