Arif Ahmed: Blame, belief and statistical evidence

Lecture by Arif Ahmed (Cambridge), organized by the Department of Theoretical Philosophy

Recent work (e.g. Enoch et al., Philosophy and Public Affairs 2012) argues that the justification for ignoring bare statistical evidence in courtroom situations is to do with deterrence. I argue that this is an illusion, that the practice may lack justification altogether, and that the intuition behind it might be explained by means of social rather than individual norms on the formation of belief.