Belief Inertia and Awareness-Evidence Commutativity

Abstract It is alleged that imprecise probabilism can render one unable to update one’s credence in light of new evidence. While such belief inertia by itself is already quite worrying, I argue that it has other worrying epistemic implications that were previously unnoticed. It opens the possibility that one’s doxastic state depends not only on the evidence one has but also on the temporal order between awareness growth and evidence acquisition. I find this implication difficult to accept.

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Publication Details

Journal
Analysis
Published
2025-10-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anaf085
Primary Topic
Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Belief Inertia and Awareness-Evidence Commutativity

Zhongwei Xu
Analysis
Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
article

Belief Inertia and Awareness-Evidence Commutativity

Zhongwei Xu
article en

Abstract

Abstract It is alleged that imprecise probabilism can render one unable to update one’s credence in light of new evidence. While such belief inertia by itself is already quite worrying, I argue that it has other worrying epistemic implications that were previously unnoticed. It opens the possibility that one’s doxastic state depends not only on the evidence one has but also on the temporal order between awareness growth and evidence acquisition. I find this implication difficult to accept.

Analysis
London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
Openalex Percentile: Top 66%
Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
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Belief Inertia and Awareness-Evidence Commutativity — Zhongwei Xu · Analysis (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS