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Full Idea
The analysis of verisimilitude has been much debated. Some plausible analyses have failed disastrously, others conflict with one another. One conclusion is that verisimilitude seems to consist of several distinguishable virtues.
Gist of Idea
Verisimilitude has proved hard to analyse, and seems to have several components
Source
David Lewis (Causal Explanation [1986], V n7)
Book Ref
Lewis,David: 'Philosophical Papers Vol.2' [OUP 1986], p.226
A Reaction
Presumably if it is complex, you can approach truth in one respect while receding from it in another. It seems clear enough if you are calculating pi by some iterative process.
| 575 | If one error is worse than another, it must be because it is further from the truth [Aristotle] |
| 19247 | The one unpardonable offence in reasoning is to block the route to further truth [Peirce] |
| 22317 | Truth does not admit of more and less [Frege] |
| 3861 | Theories generate infinite truths and falsehoods, so they cannot be used to assess probability [Newton-Smith] |
| 3869 | More truthful theories have greater predictive power [Newton-Smith] |
| 15557 | Verisimilitude has proved hard to analyse, and seems to have several components [Lewis] |
| 9651 | Verisimilitude might be explained as being close to the possible world where the truth is exact [Lewis] |
| 17602 | Verisimilitude comes from including more phenomena, and revealing what underlies [Thagard] |