Quantum probabilities and the conjunction principle

Igor Douven

Jos Uffink

pp. 109-114

in: Jeanne Peijnenburg, Branden Fitelson, Igor Douven (eds), Probability, confirmation and fallacies, Synthese 184 (1), 2012.

Abstract

A recent argument by Hawthorne and Lasonen-Aarnio purports to show that we can uphold the principle that competently forming conjunctions is a knowledge-preserving operation only at the cost of a rampant skepticism about the future. A key premise of their argument is that, in light of quantum-mechanical considerations, future contingents never quite have chance 1 of being true. We argue, by drawing attention to the order of magnitude of the relevant quantum probabilities, that the skeptical threat of Hawthorne and Lasonen-Aarnio’s argument is illusory.