Abstract
This paper discusses the relevance of coherence to deciding between competing explanations. It provides a basic definition of coherence in probabilistic terms, which yields a coherence measure and can easily be extended from the coherence of two beliefs to the coherence of n beliefs. Using this definition, the coherence of a set of beliefs can be obtained by making simple extensions to a Bayesian network. The basic definition suggests a strategy for revising beliefs since a decision to reject a belief can be based on maximising the coherence of the remaining beliefs. It is also argued that coherence can provide a suitable approach for inference to the best explanation.
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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Glass, D.H. (2002). Coherence, Explanation, and Bayesian Networks. In: O’Neill, M., Sutcliffe, R.F.E., Ryan, C., Eaton, M., Griffith, N.J.L. (eds) Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science. AICS 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2464. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45750-X_23
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45750-X_23
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