Have Bayesians Solved the Paradox of the Ravens?
Abstract The standard Bayesian solution to the paradox of the ravens maintains that the degree of confirmation provided by seeing a non-black non-raven is positive but negligible compared to that provided by seeing a black raven. I show that, unless we impose severe and unmotivated restrictions on the subject’s priors, this has the consequence that the cumulative confirmation provided by all the non-black non-ravens the subject expects to see is non-negligible compared to the cumulative confirmation provided by all the black ravens the subject expects to see. If this is so, however, then the paradox retains its full force.
Authors
- Amit Karmon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0763-6696)
Institutions
- University of Oxford (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Philosophy of Science
- Published
- 2026-03-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1017/psa.2026.10207
- Primary Topic
- Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00