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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that van Fraassen's argument in 'Laws and Symmetry' demonstrates that any probabilistic model of IBE must privilege certain hypotheses prior to evidence, importing undisclosed priors under explanatory language.

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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Distinguishing between legitimate background assumptions and undisclosed priors requires criteria van Fraassen never clearly articulates in the argument.
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    • 2.Many successful IBE applications (e.g., atomic theory, germ theory) have retrospectively justified their 'priors,' suggesting they weren't arbitrary impositions.
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    • 3.The claim that all explanatory language masks priors proves too much—it would undermine van Fraassen's own non-explanationist empiricism equally.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.Explanatory virtues (simplicity, elegance, scope) function as implicit constraints that systematically favor certain hypotheses before evidence is considered.
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    • 2.Van Fraassen showed that probabilistic models cannot escape prior assumptions; labeling them 'explanatory' rather than 'probabilistic' merely obscures their presence.
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    • 3.IBE practitioners often disagree on which explanations are best without explicit prior specifications, suggesting hidden commitments drive their judgments.
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