‘Ramseyfying’ Probabilistic Comparativism

Abstract

Comparativism is the view that comparative confidences (e.g., being more confident that P than that Q) are more fundamental than degrees of belief (e.g., believing that P with some strength x). I outline the basis for a new, nonprobabilistic version of comparativism inspired by a suggestion made by Frank Ramsey in “Probability and Partial Belief.” I show how, and to what extent, ‘Ramseyan comparativism’ might be used to weaken the (unrealistically strong) probabilistic coherence conditions that comparativism traditionally relies on.