Abstract
In this chapter I defend the weight of evidence account. I argue that the other theories of evidence fail to adequately explain how evidence is gathered and used to confirm hypotheses in clinical medical science, and provide examples to show why they are unsuccessful. I argue that the weight of evidence account improves on the other theories by showing that it explains the many processes employed in clinical medical science, for example, by providing justification for more studies when the weight of evidence is low. The account also permits use of a variety of statistical methods and is not confined to frequentist or Bayesian approaches. It explains the case studies, and among other virtues it explains efforts to rank evidence, and justifies the use of treatment guidelines.
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Pinkston, J.A. (2020). The Weight of Evidence Account Defended. In: Evidence and Hypothesis in Clinical Medical Science. Synthese Library, vol 426. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44270-5_6
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