---
bibtex: @article{Zollman2015-ZOLMTS,
number = {9},
volume = {172},
doi = {10.1007/s11098-014-0416-7},
journal = {Philosophical Studies},
author = {Kevin J. S. Zollman},
pages = {2371--2383},
year = {2015},
title = {Modeling the Social Consequences of Testimonial Norms}
}
---
Zollman, Kevin J. S. (2015). Modeling the social consequences of testimonial norms. Philosophical Studies 172 (9):2371-2383.
This paper approaches the problem of testimony from a new direction. Rather than focusing on the epistemic grounds for testimony, it considers the problem from the perspective of an individual who must choose whom to trust from a population of many would-be testifiers. A computer simulation is presented which illustrates that in many plausible situations, those who trust without attempting to judge the reliability of testifiers outperform those who attempt to seek out the more reliable members of the community. In so doing, it presents a novel defense for the credulist position that argues one should trust testimony without considering the underlying reliability of the testifier.
Uses computer simulation to address problems in testimony and compare the effectiveness of a variety of strategies put forward by others in the literature.
Code and variables are described in the paper.
Links to code (in NLOGO) are provided at the online DOI. (1828 LOC)
Endorses the value of abstraction and idealisation ...
These artificial communities leave many things out, and this paper will not hide this fact. However, like the traditional thought experiment in philosophy, this simple situation provides a test-bed which reveals important subtleties that have heretofore gone unnoticed. (p4)