First, I would say that “things” are not arbitrary. I don’t think that makes any sense to say “my sock is arbitrary.”
Arbitrariness is a property of hypotheses, and in other contexts, decisions. In fact, maybe that’s it—decisions may be arbitrary, and usually the kind of decision being referred to as arbitrary is one that privileges a certain hypothesis over others that seem to have just as much validity.
I’ve been trying to work in Jaynes concept of a transformation group for a problem into the concept. If there is a transformation group for the problem that leaves you with the same problem, but making different selections, then your selection method is arbitrary.
I don’t know if I’m getting much better than “without justification”. Oh well, time for bed.
I think this is an important problem.
First, I would say that “things” are not arbitrary. I don’t think that makes any sense to say “my sock is arbitrary.”
Arbitrariness is a property of hypotheses, and in other contexts, decisions. In fact, maybe that’s it—decisions may be arbitrary, and usually the kind of decision being referred to as arbitrary is one that privileges a certain hypothesis over others that seem to have just as much validity.
I’ve been trying to work in Jaynes concept of a transformation group for a problem into the concept. If there is a transformation group for the problem that leaves you with the same problem, but making different selections, then your selection method is arbitrary.
I don’t know if I’m getting much better than “without justification”. Oh well, time for bed.