Progic 2009: 4th Workshop on
Combining Probability and Logic

Special focus: new approaches to rationality in decision making

17-19 September 2009
University of Groningen, The Netherlands

INTRODUCTION

Logic and probability theory are often studied in conjunction to decision making, and for good reason: we want our reasoning to be rational because the reasoning precedes and controls for actions. But the models for rationality in reasoning have seen major changes and additions in recent years: logicians have taken a dynamic turn, and probabilists have discovered network tools and new representations of uncertainty. In this workshop we address the question how these developments in modelling rationality carry over to the science of decision making.

The Progic workshop is organised in conjunction with the first meeting of a European research network on rationality and decision, pending a final funding decision. Confirmed speakers for this joint event include: Johan van Benthem, Luc Bovens, Richard Bradley, Igor Douven, Jim Joyce, Wlodek Rabinowicz, Teddy Seidenfeld, and Jon Williamson.

PROGRAMME

The programme of the conference can be found here, and a document with short abstracts here. Note that immediately after Progic09, we will host the second leg of an exchange workshop between the Department of Philosophy, Logic, and Scientific Method of the London School of Economics, and the Philosophy Faculty at Groningen. All participants are cordially invited to attend the talks by LSE staff members, followed by comments from Groningen staff. A programme for this event can be found here.

TALKS

After the conference all the slides will be made available on this website. Here are some of the slides in advance, as well as some papers on which the talks are based.

• David Atkinson and Jeanne Peijnenburg Perils of Probabilistic Support.
• Johan van Benthem Merging Logical Dynamics and Probabilistic Update.
• Marcel Boumans Decision Making Outside the Laboratory.
• Luc Bovens Judy Benjamin is a Sleeping Beauty, modulo Monty Hall.
• Richard Bradley Conditionals as random variables?.
• Richard Dietz and Igor Douven RamseyÕs Test, AdamsÕ Thesis, and Left-Nested Conditionals.
• Igor Douven and Jan-Willem Romeijn A New Resolution of the Judy Benjamin Problem.
• Tomasso Flaminio and Hykel Hosni Towards an algebraic framework for many-valued conditional probability.
• Jeffrey Helzner A Logic-Based Approach to Admissibility.
• Brett Houlding and Frank Coolen Nonparametric Predictive Utility Inference.
• Jim Joyce Ratifiability, Stability and the Role of Act Probabilities in Decision Theory.
• Bert Leuridan Objective Bayesianism and Unfair Coins.
• Sheila Miller An Axiomatic Approach to the Value of Information.
• Martin Peterson Deontic probabilities and obligations that vary in degrees.
• Wlodek Rabinowicz Expected Utility and Centered Chances.
• Teddy Seidenfeld Some results about unbounded expected utilities, based on the papers Disintegration for unbounded variables and Preference for equivalent variables written jointly with Mark Schervish and Jay Kadane.
• Jonah Schupbach and Jan Sprenger The Logic of Explanatory Power.
• Corina Stroessner Most and Probably - Quantifiers and Statistical Reasoning.
• Nathan Huntley and Matthias Troffaes Factuality and Backward Induction.
• John Welch Decision Theory and Rational Choice.
• Jon Williamson Connections between Decision-making and Probabilistic Logic.

REGISTRATION

To register for the conference, please pay 30 euro into the following bank account, mentioning the budget code.

	Dutch account	4017 18468
	IBAN	NL23 ABNA 04017 18468
	BIC	ABNA NL2A
	Recipient	Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Faculteit Wijsbegeerte Oude Boteringestraat 52 9712 GL Groningen The Netherlands
	Budget code	720 211
	Bank address	ABN-Amro Bank Postbus 686 8000 AR Zwolle The Netherlands

TRAVEL

To get to Groningen, you can fly to Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam. From Schiphol Airport you can take a direct train to Groningen, leaving at 19 past the whole hour from platform 3. Alternatively, you can take the train leaving at 49 past the whole hour from platform 3 and change at Amersfoort. At Amersfoort you arrive on platform 2b. The train to Groningen leaves from the opposite side, on platform 1.

Alternatively, there is the small and convenient Eelde Airport near Groningen. Please check their website for the latest on connections to Groningen. Bus 52 brings you to the Groningen train station.

Most of the hotels are within walking distance from Groningen train station. There is a taxi stand to the left of the exit of the old station building. If you wonder what your walk will be like, please consult the following map, or use Google maps which offers a street view too.

ACCOMMODATION

There are many hotels in the centre of Groningen. Here are a few suggestions in different price ranges, all of them in the old town centre.

• Hotel de Ville, 150 euro, luxurious and opposite the Faculty of Philosophy.
• Hotel Schimmelpenninckhuys, 120 euro, a really charming place.
• Hotel Corps de Garde, 100 euro, nice historical building, very close to the Faculty of Philosophy.
• Martini Hotel, 80 euro, friendly and decent but without an English website.
• City Hotel, 80 euro, similarly decent and friendly.

PREVIOUS PROGICS

The First Workshop on Combining Probability and Logic was held at King's College London in 2002.
A special issue of the Journal of Applied Logic 1(3-4), 2003, was devoted to the themes of the workshop.

The Second Workshop on Combining Probability and Logic was held at the London School of Economics in 2005.
A special issue of the Journal of Logic, Language and Information, 15(1-2), 2006, was devoted to the themes of the workshop.

The Third Workshop on Combining Probability and Logic was held at the University of Kent at Canterbury in 2007.
A special issue of the Journal of Applied Logic, devoted to the theme of the workshop, is in print.

ORGANIZATION

This conference is organised by Martin van Hees, Jan-Willem Romeijn and Olivier Roy, supported by the Progic Steering Committee.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are very grateful to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO for providing financial support.