A Double‐Halfer Embarrassment: Response to Pust

ABSTRACT Michael Titelbaum introduced a variant of the Sleeping Beauty problem in which a coin is tossed on both Monday and Tuesday, with the Tuesday toss not affecting Beauty's condition. Titelbaum argues that double halfers are committed to the embarrassing position that Beauty's credence that today's coin toss lands heads is greater than 1/2. In a response, Joel Pust agrees with the result, but argues that it is not a distinctive embarrassment for halfers. I argue that thirders need not be embarrassed. Double halfers, on the other hand, must hold that Beauty's evidence is admissible for direct inference with respect to Monday's coin toss, but not with respect to today's coin toss. This is embarrassing because (1) a plausible argument exists for the opposite position, and (2) the position conflicts with the central motivation guiding double halfism.

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Publication Details

Journal
Analytic Philosophy
Published
2026-06-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/phib.70016
Primary Topic
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

A Double‐Halfer Embarrassment: Response to Pust

Lennart Ackermans
Analytic Philosophy
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
article

A Double‐Halfer Embarrassment: Response to Pust

Lennart Ackermans
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Michael Titelbaum introduced a variant of the Sleeping Beauty problem in which a coin is tossed on both Monday and Tuesday, with the Tuesday toss not affecting Beauty's condition. Titelbaum argues that double halfers are committed to the embarrassing position that Beauty's credence that today's coin toss lands heads is greater than 1/2. In a response, Joel Pust agrees with the result, but argues that it is not a distinctive embarrassment for halfers. I argue that thirders need not be embarrassed. Double halfers, on the other hand, must hold that Beauty's evidence is admissible for direct inference with respect to Monday's coin toss, but not with respect to today's coin toss. This is embarrassing because (1) a plausible argument exists for the opposite position, and (2) the position conflicts with the central motivation guiding double halfism.

Analytic Philosophy
Munich School of Philosophy (DE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
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