Kolmogorov Conditionalizers Can Be Dutch Booked

Review of Symbolic Logic 15 (3):722-757 (2022)
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Abstract

A vexing question in Bayesian epistemology is how an agent should update on evidence which she assigned zero prior credence. Some theorists have suggested that, in such cases, the agent should update by Kolmogorov conditionalization, a norm based on Kolmogorov’s theory of regular conditional distributions. However, it turns out that in some situations, a Kolmogorov conditionalizer will plan to always assign a posterior credence of zero to the evidence she learns. Intuitively, such a plan is irrational and easily Dutch bookable. In this paper, we propose a revised norm, Kolmogorov-Blackwell conditionalization, which avoids this problem. We prove a Dutch book theorem and converse Dutch book theorem for this revised norm, and relate our results to those of Rescorla (2018).

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Author Profiles

Alexander Meehan
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Snow Zhang
University of California, Berkeley

Citations of this work

Accuracy-dominance and conditionalization.Michael Nielsen - 2021 - Philosophical Studies 178 (10):3217-3236.
Non-Factive Kolmogorov Conditionalization.Michael Rescorla - 2025 - Review of Symbolic Logic 18 (1):186-212.
Bayesian defeat of certainties.Michael Rescorla - 2024 - Synthese 203 (2):1-38.
Iterated Conditionalization in a General Setting.Michael Rescorla - forthcoming - Journal of Philosophical Logic:1-46.

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