The Impossibility of a Bayesian Liberal?

William Bosworth, Brad R. Taylor

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    1 Citation (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Aumann’s theorem states that no individual should agree to disagree under a range of assumptions. Political liberalism appears to presuppose these assumptions with the idealized conditions of public reason. We argue that Aumann’s theorem demonstrates they nevertheless cannot be simultaneously held with what is arguably political liberalism’s most central tenet. That is, the tenet of reasonable pluralism, which implies we can rationally agree to disagree over conceptions of the good. We finish by elaborating a way of relaxing one of the theorem’s axioms that arguably lends itself to a coherent account of political liberalism, namely, the condition of indexical independence.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2023-2033
    Number of pages11
    JournalJournal of Politics
    Volume84
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Oct 2022

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