Journal: Synthese

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Springer

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1573-0964
0039-7857

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2013 - 201922020 - 20249
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Publications 1 - 10 of 11
  • Judging machines: philosophical aspects of deep learning
    Item type: Journal Article
    Schubbach, Arno (2021)
    Synthese
    Although machine learning has been successful in recent years and is increasingly being deployed in the sciences, enterprises or administrations, it has rarely been discussed in philosophy beyond the philosophy of mathematics and machine learning. The present contribution addresses the resulting lack of conceptual tools for an epistemological discussion of machine learning by conceiving of deep learning networks as ‘judging machines’ and using the Kantian analysis of judgments for specifying the type of judgment they are capable of. At the center of the argument is the fact that the functionality of deep learning networks is established by training and cannot be explained and justified by reference to a predefined rule-based procedure. Instead, the computational process of a deep learning network is barely explainable and needs further justification, as is shown in reference to the current research literature. Thus, it requires a new form of justification, that is to be specified with the help of Kant’s epistemology.
  • Interpreting Enthymematic Arguments Using Belief Revision
    Item type: Journal Article
    Brun, Georg; Rott, Hans (2013)
    Synthese
  • How much do you trust me? A logico-mathematical analysis of the concept of the intensity of trust
    Item type: Journal Article
    Loi, Michele; Ferrario, Andrea; Viganò, Eleonora (2023)
    Synthese
    Trust and monitoring are traditionally antithetical concepts. Describing trust as a property of a relationship of reliance, we introduce a theory of trust and monitoring, which uses mathematical models based on two classes of functions, including q-exponentials, and relates the levels of trust to the costs of monitoring. As opposed to several accounts of trust that attempt to identify the special ingredient of reliance and trust relationships, our theory characterizes trust as a quantitative property of certain relations of reliance that can be quantified and expressed as a scalar quantity. Our theory is applicable to both human–human and human–artificial agent interactions, as it is agnostic with respect to the concrete realization of trustworthiness properties, and is compatible with many views differing on which properties contribute to trust and trustworthiness. Finally, as our mathematical models make the quantitative features of trust measurable, they provide empirical studies on trust with a rigorous methodology for its measurement.
  • Folk teleology drives persistence judgments
    Item type: Journal Article
    Rose, David; Schaffer, Jonathan; Tobia, Kevin P. (2020)
    Synthese
    Two separate research programs have revealed two different factors that feature in our judgments of whether some entity persists. One program—inspired by Knobe—has found that normative considerations affect persistence judgments. For instance, people are more inclined to view a thing as persisting when the changes it undergoes lead to improvements. The other program—inspired by Kelemen—has found that teleological considerations affect persistence judgments. For instance, people are more inclined to view a thing as persisting when it preserves its purpose. Our goal in this paper is to determine what causes persistence judgments. Across four studies, we pit normative considerations against teleological considerations. And using causal modeling procedures, we find a consistent, robust pattern with teleological and not normative considerations directly causing persistence judgments. Our findings put teleology in the driver’s seat, while at the same time shedding further light on our folk notion of an object.
  • Formal text from a semiotic perspective. The case of the ‘Combinatorial School’
    Item type: Journal Article
    Kiel Steensen, Anna (2023)
    Synthese
  • Reflective equilibrium and understanding
    Item type: Journal Article
    Baumberger, Christoph; Brun, Georg (2021)
    Synthese
    Elgin has presented an extensive defence of reflective equilibrium embedded in an epistemology which focuses on objectual understanding rather than ordinary propositional knowledge. This paper has two goals: to suggest an account of reflective equilibrium which is sympathetic to Elgin’s but includes a range of further developments, and to analyse its role in an account of understanding. We first address the structure of reflective equilibrium as a target state and argue that reflective equilibrium requires more than an equilibrium in the sense of a coherent position (i.e. an agreement of commitments, theory and background theories). On the one hand, the position also needs to be stable between a ‘conservative’ pull of input commitments and a ‘progressive’ pull of epistemic goals; on the other hand, reflective equilibrium requires that enough of the resulting commitments have some credibility independent of the coherence of the position. We then turn to the dynamics of reflective equilibrium, the process of mutual adjustment of commitments and theories. Here, the most pressing internal challenges for defenders of reflective equilibrium arise: to characterize this process more exactly and to explain its status in relation to reflective equilibrium as a target state. Finally, we investigate the role of reflective equilibrium in Elgin’s account of understanding and argue that objectual understanding cannot be explained in terms of reflective equilibrium alone. An epistemic agent who understands a subject matter by means of a theory also needs to be able to use this theory and the theory needs to meet some external rightness condition.
  • Introduction: systematicity, the nature of science?
    Item type: Journal Article
    Bschir, Karim; Lohse, Simon; Chang, Hasok (2019)
    Synthese
  • Between mechanical clocks and emergent flocks: complexities in biology
    Item type: Journal Article
    Gross, Fridolin (2021)
    Synthese
    Even though complexity is a concept that is ubiquitously used by biologists and philosophers of biology, it is rarely made precise. I argue that a clarification of the concept is neither trivial nor unachievable, and I propose a unifying framework based on the technical notion of "effective complexity" that allows me to do justice to conflicting intuitions about biological complexity, while taking into account several distinctions in the usage of the concept that are often overlooked. In particular, I propose a distinction between two kinds of complexity, "mechanical" and "emergent", which can be understood as different ways of relating the effective complexity of mechanisms and of behaviors in biological explanations. I illustrate the adequacy of this framework by discussing different attempts to understand intracellular organization in terms of pathways and networks. My framework provides a different way of thinking about recent philosophical debates, for example, on the difference between mechanistic and topological explanations and about the concept of emergence. Moreover, it can contribute to a proper assessment of metascientific arguments that invoke biological complexity.
  • Paul Cohen’s philosophy of mathematics and its reflection in his mathematical practice
    Item type: Journal Article
    Wagner, Roy (2023)
    Synthese
    This paper studies Paul Cohen’s philosophy of mathematics and mathematical practice as expressed in his writing on set-theoretic consistency proofs using his method of forcing. Since Cohen did not consider himself a philosopher and was somewhat reluctant about philosophy, the analysis uses semiotic and literary textual methodologies rather than mainstream philosophical ones. Specifically, I follow some ideas of Lévi-Strauss’s structural semiotics and some literary narratological methodologies. I show how Cohen’s reflections and rhetoric attempt to bridge what he experiences as an uncomfortable tension between reality and the formal by means of his notion of intuition.
  • The reliability of evidential pluralism in drug regulation
    Item type: Journal Article
    Andreoletti, Mattia; Pérez-González, Saúl (2024)
    Synthese
    The aim of this paper is to shed light on and critically evaluate the potential impact of evidential pluralism in the realm of pharmaceutical regulation. In the complex landscape of drug evaluation and approval, the role of evidence is pivotal. Firstly, we delve into the role of evidence of mechanisms within drug regulation, with a particular focus on the Accelerated Approval pathway administered by the US Food and Drug Administration. Our analysis reveals that this program, in practice, closely resembles a pluralistic approach to evidence. Secondly, we undertake a thorough examination of the reliability of evidential pluralism within the context of drug regulation. We dissect and discuss the open-cases approach recently put forth by Sung and Holman. While acknowledging its potential merits, we also identify and articulate significant limitations inherent in this approach. Finally, we propose an alternative empirical approach that centres on the real-world outcomes of regulatory programs.
Publications 1 - 10 of 11