Betting on Theories: Revolutionizing Scientific Acceptance and Transforming Decision-Making
The book "Betting on Theories" explores when it's logical to accept scientific theories. It looks at decision theory and confirmation theory, building on ideas from Ramsey and Savage. The author argues that confirmation theory is best understood through decision theory, providing rules for updating probabilities. The concept of accepting a hypothesis is introduced, showing it's different from probability and necessary for certain science questions. A Bayesian decision-theoretic approach to rational acceptance is presented, with a foundation for this theory. The book also sheds light on topics like verisimilitude and scientific realism.