SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE CONFIRMATION

Confirmation is commonly identified with positive relevance, E being s aid to confirm H if and only if E increases the probability of H. Toda y, analyses of this general kind are usually Bayesian ones that take t he relevant probabilities to be subjective. I argue that these subject ive Bayesian analyses are irremediably flawed. In their place I propos e a relevance analysis that makes confirmation objective and which, I show, avoids the flaws of the subjective analyses. What I am proposing is in some ways a return to Carnap's conception of confirmation, thou gh there are also important differences between my analysis and his. M y analysis includes new accounts of what evidence is and of the indexi cality of confirmation claims. Finally, I defend my analysis against A chinstein's criticisms of the relevance concept of confirmation.