The design argument: Elliott Sober

Bayesianism and IBE

10.1093/oso/9780198746904.003.0016 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Leah Henderson

Keyword(s):

Bayesian Model ◽

Group Selection ◽

Test Cases ◽

Hybrid View ◽

Elliott Sober ◽

Scientific Arguments ◽

Explanatory Virtue

Different views have been proposed about how Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) and Bayesianism might be compatible with one another. One is a hybrid view, according to which explanatory considerations play a role in driving the Bayesian machinery. Another is an ‘emergent compatibilist’ view, in which an independently motivated Bayesian model of IBE is provided, so that explanatory considerations emerge from the Bayesian machinery rather than driving it. Specific scientific arguments can serve as test cases for these general views. The chapter argues that the case of Williams’ argument against group selection, discussed by Elliott Sober, is better understood with the emergent compatibilist picture, than with the hybrid view. This analysis of the case challenges Elliott Sober’s claim that the epistemic significance of appeals to the explanatory virtue of parsimony is highly case-specific. Instead, a more unified picture of IBE and its connection to Bayesianism is suggested.

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The Nature of Selection: Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus. Elliott Sober

Philosophy of Science ◽

10.1086/289286 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 52 (4) ◽

pp. 645-646

Author(s):

David C. Culver

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary Theory ◽

Elliott Sober

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The design argument salvaged? Assessing the contemporary argument from improbability

Studia Philosophiae Christianae ◽

10.21697/spch.2020.56.3.03 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 56 (3) ◽

pp. 51-70

Author(s):

Juuso Loikkanen

Keyword(s):

Intelligent Design ◽

Design Argument ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Physical Universe ◽

History Of

Some features within the physical universe appear to be so well-ordered that they have been regarded as evidence of the existence of a supernatural being who has designed them. This history of the so-called design argument is millennia-long, and various formulations of the argument have been presented. In this paper, I explore one contemporary version of the design argument proposed by the Intelligent Design movement, and analyze its advantages and disadvantages in comparison to one of the most famous classical versions of the argument.

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Persuasion by Design? Design Theory Between Aesthetics and Rhetoric

Design Issues ◽

10.1162/desi_a_00654 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 9-22

Author(s):

Joachim Knape

Keyword(s):

Design Process ◽

Design Theory ◽

Theoretical Perspective ◽

Theoretical Discussion ◽

Design Argument ◽

The Moment ◽

The Relationship

Abstract This article deals primarily with object design from a production-theoretical perspective. It is focused on the question of the rhetorical achievement of design, i.e., its persuasiveness, which was already discussed by Buchanan and Krippendorf in 1985. To this day, the relationship between aesthetic and rhetorical calculuses in the design process is controversial in theoretical discussion. The solution to the problem: Aesthetics and rhetoric combine in the appeal structure (1) at the moment of creation of design and (2) at the moment of the user's decision for an object. In these processes, the design argument results from the combination of aestheticized gestalt and rhetorical appeal of an object.

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