Originally Posted by
stormcrow
This is a rather vague subject matter to match the title but Ill give it a shot, of course correct me if I am missing your point (maybe if you provide an example I could have something tangible to work with). Paradoxically the degree of belief you have in a proposition being true is decreased the more empirical evidence there is to support it. Popper articulated this more eloquently than me "The probability of a theory is inversely proportional to its empirical content". What I take it that he means is that the more specific the theory or hypothesis describes some empirical state of affairs the less likely that theory is to be correct, again this seems counter intuitive but it can be expressed formally which might shed some light on the matter (or it might have the opposite effect, its been awhile since Ive thought about this stuff).
Take this classic example:
Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations.
Given this back ground information which is more probable?
a) Linda is a bank teller.
b) Linda is a bank teller and active in the feminist movement.
Now 85% of people think that "b" is more likely than "a" but this is incorrect and we can see why by consulting a universal law of probability theory:
....