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Reeling and A-Reasoning: Surprise Examinations and Newcomb's Tale

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2004

Peter Cave
Peter Cave
Affiliation:
Soho, London
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Abstract

Certain paradoxes set us reeling endlessly. In surprise examination paradoxes, pupils' reasonings lead them to reel between expecting an examination and expecting none. With Newcomb's puzzle, choosers reel between reasoning in favour of choosing just one box and choosing two. The paradoxes demand an answer to what it is rational to believe or do. Highlighting other reelings and puzzles, this paper shows that the paradoxes should come as no surprise. The paradoxes demand an end to our reasoning when the conditions they set ensure no end. They equivocate between, so to speak, reasoning in heaven and reasoning on earth; and, on the conditions set, not even an infinite god could reach a conclusion.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy , Volume 79 , Issue 4 , October 2004 , pp. 609 - 616
Copyright
© The Royal Institute of Philosophy 2004

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