Objections to the Equal Weight View

Abstract

Thus far we have seen that in an idealized disagreement, each opinion is to be given equal weight. In such a scenario, the higher-order evidence about each party is equally good — the evidence about each party is equally good, and the evidence supports that each party is equally good. So, the proper thing to do is to give each party’s opinion equal evidential weight. We have also seen that when you give the opinion of the other party to an idealized disagreement its proper weight, you get a reason to split the difference with that party. You thereby have a reason to adopt the doxastic attitude midway between the two original conflicting doxastic attitudes. While this reason to split the difference can itself be defeated, it is not defeated in as many ways as has been thought.