Casting inference to the best explanation's lot with active inference

DAVOODY BENI M.

THEORIA-A SWEDISH JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY, vol.89, no.2, pp.188-203, 2023 (AHCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 89 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2023
  • Doi Number: 10.1111/theo.12455
  • Journal Name: THEORIA-A SWEDISH JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY
  • Journal Indexes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, Periodicals Index Online, L'Année philologique, Humanities Abstracts, Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts, Philosopher's Index, zbMATH, DIALNET
  • Page Numbers: pp.188-203
  • Keywords: bad lot objection, free energy principle, inference to the best explanation, FREE-ENERGY PRINCIPLE
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This paper draws on the resources of computational neuroscience (an account of active inference under the free energy principle) to address Bas van Fraassen's bad lot objection to the inference to the best explanation (IBE). The general assumption of this paper is that IBE is a finessed form of active inferences that self-organising systems perform to maximise the chance of their survival. Under this assumption, the paper aims to establish the following points: first, the capacity to learn to perform explanatory inferences comes with evolutionary privileges; second, adaptive actions guide beliefs and beliefs are action-oriented; and third, IBE is not inconsistent with (approximate) Bayesianism but plays a heuristic role to it.