Friday, Dec 2: Philosophy of Science / Biology Talk

[ereshefs at ucalgary.ca]

See below and attached for a philosophy of science / philosophy of biology
talk this Friday.

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Bengt Autzen
Department of Philosophy
University of Calgary

"Bayesianism, Convergence and Molecular Phylogenetics"

Friday, December 2, 4:00pm

Social Sciences Building, Room 1253

Abstract:
Bayesian methods are very popular in both philosophy and science.  At the
same time there is concern among philosophers and scientists regarding the
properties of this methodology.  In  particular, there is concern about the
lack of objectivity of evidential statements in Bayesian  confirmation
theory due to the role of prior probabilities.  One standard reply to be
found in the Bayesian literature is that as data size grows larger
differences in prior probability assignments will "wash out" and there will
be convergence of opinion among different agents.  This paper puts the
"washing out of priors" argument to the test in the context of
phylogenetic inference.  I argue that the role of nuisance parameters in
molecular phylogenetics prevents the application of convergence arguments
typically found in the literature on Bayesianism.


Bengt Autzen <http://phil.ucalgary.ca/profiles/bengt-autzen>  is a
 Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Calgary.

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