Richard Briggs

Explanationism and Bayesianism are important families of theories in epistemology, and this dissertation defends that they are compatible with each other. The first chapter argues that Explanationism is best understood as a family of theories which hold that the fact that a hypothesis explains certain observations can be a reason to accept that hypothesis. The second chapter argues that Compatibilism is best understood as the view that explanatory considerations can sometimes at least partly determine the relevant probabilities for Bayesian conditionalization, and so can at least partly determine when, according to Bayesianism, it is epistemically appropriate to have certain credences. The third chapter considers William Roche and Elliot Sober’s arguments against inference to the best explanation and shows that these arguments do not threaten the main contentions of Compatibilism. The fourth and final chapter evaluates and defends three arguments supporting Compatibilism