Lotteries, Knowledge, and Rational Belief

The book offers new insights into the lottery paradox, and thereby into how categorical and graded beliefs are formally connected.

A book for readers interested in the latest theories about knowledge and rational belief, with an emphasis on how outright belief relates to degrees of certainty. The most straightforward connection between those has given rise to a paradox, which is central to all of the essays in this volume.We talk and think about our beliefs both in a categorical (yes/no) and in a graded way. How do the two kinds of belief hang together? The most straightforward answer is that we believe something categorically if we believe it to a high enough degree. But this seemingly obvious, near-platitudinous claim is known to give rise to a paradox commonly known as the 'lottery paradox' – at least when it is coupled with some further seeming near-platitudes about belief. How to resolve that paradox has been a matter of intense philosophical debate for over fifty years. This volume offers a collection of newly commissioned essays on the subject, all of which provide compelling reasons for rethinking many of the fundamentals of the debate.