Kevin Zollman
@kevinzollman.com
Philosophy and Game Theory at Carnegie Mellon 🦚 Research the interface between philosophy, economics, and biology 💱 www.kevinzollman.com
Get in, we're posting boardwalks
January 14, 2026 at 2:26 AM
Get in, we're posting boardwalks
Seen outside the philosophy department. No one disagreed
January 12, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Seen outside the philosophy department. No one disagreed
People who know me already knew this, but now it's official
January 7, 2026 at 9:03 PM
People who know me already knew this, but now it's official
Why do people in the UK think these are birds?
January 1, 2026 at 1:10 PM
Why do people in the UK think these are birds?
post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden, or alice in chains
December 28, 2025 at 5:10 AM
post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden, or alice in chains
Avery Brooks or gtfo
November 20, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Avery Brooks or gtfo
Although occasionally Friedman draws on Popper, denying that theories can be confirmed. Carnap and Reichenbach would certainly have disagreed with this statement.
![Viewed as a body of substantive hypotheses, theory is to be judged by its
predictivepowerfor theclassofphenomena which it is intended to "explain."
Only factual evidence can show whether it is "right" or "wrong" or, better,
tentatively «accepted" as valid or "rejected. As I Shal] argue at greater length
below, the only relevant test Of the udidiry of a hypothesis is comparison
Of its predictions with experience. The hypothesis is rejected if its predic-
tions are contradicted f "frequently» or morc often than predictions from an
alternative hypothesis); it is accepted if its predictions arc not contradicted;
great onfidence is attached to it if it has survived many opportunities for
contradiction. Factual evidence can never "prove" a hypothesis; it can only
fail to disprove it, which is what we generally mean when we say, somewhat
inexactly, that the hypothesis has bccn "confirmed* by experience.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bt4eno63kd5uttdozhexncs6/bafkreigt4bh6zqbv42yjhuthkapp7ryl6ldtvq5rpug55r7oveyzcoqn4i@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Although occasionally Friedman draws on Popper, denying that theories can be confirmed. Carnap and Reichenbach would certainly have disagreed with this statement.
Friedman explicitly references the value of consistency and completeness results... although what he says makes me wonder if he really understands what that means. (What does "completeness" have to do with "rightness" and "wrongness" or intersubjective agreement?)
November 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Friedman explicitly references the value of consistency and completeness results... although what he says makes me wonder if he really understands what that means. (What does "completeness" have to do with "rightness" and "wrongness" or intersubjective agreement?)
Here's Carnap saying basically the same thing in 1937:
November 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Here's Carnap saying basically the same thing in 1937:
Friedman argues that tautologies (like mathematical theorems) are valuable in helping define he language, but that empirical content is ultimately what determines the value of a theory.
November 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Friedman argues that tautologies (like mathematical theorems) are valuable in helping define he language, but that empirical content is ultimately what determines the value of a theory.
The value of logic for making ideas precise was one of the central tenets of logical positivism and was common to all of them. Carnap describes this process as "explication"
iep.utm.edu/explicat/
iep.utm.edu/explicat/
November 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
The value of logic for making ideas precise was one of the central tenets of logical positivism and was common to all of them. Carnap describes this process as "explication"
iep.utm.edu/explicat/
iep.utm.edu/explicat/
In the next paragraph of his essay, Friedman says the value of defining theory in terms of language is its ability to help us classify reality in ways helpful to designing successful theories.
November 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
In the next paragraph of his essay, Friedman says the value of defining theory in terms of language is its ability to help us classify reality in ways helpful to designing successful theories.
Here Friedman explicitly describes a theory as a "language." And the scientific content as those claims which are not tautologies in that language.
November 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Here Friedman explicitly describes a theory as a "language." And the scientific content as those claims which are not tautologies in that language.
This is my new favorite graph
November 13, 2025 at 1:26 PM
This is my new favorite graph
Did my civic duty.
Then I ate a croissant.
Then I ate a croissant.
November 4, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Did my civic duty.
Then I ate a croissant.
Then I ate a croissant.
Bluesky, I walk by this sign everyday. Would you like to guess how many children I have seen playing there?
October 27, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Bluesky, I walk by this sign everyday. Would you like to guess how many children I have seen playing there?
They also get their own signs
October 10, 2025 at 12:46 PM
They also get their own signs
Not more deadly than coconuts... yet.
September 30, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Not more deadly than coconuts... yet.