A possibility-theoretic solution to Basu's Bayesian–frequentist via media

03/30/2023

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by   Ryan Martin, et al.

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Basu's via media is what he referred to as the middle road between the Bayesian and frequentist poles. He seemed skeptical that a suitable via media could be found, but I disagree. My basic claim is that the likelihood alone can't reliably support probabilistic inference, and I justify this by considering a technical trap that Basu stepped in concerning interpretation of the likelihood. While reliable probabilistic inference is out of reach, it turns out that reliable possibilistic inference is not. I lay out my proposed possibility-theoretic solution to Basu's via media and I investigate how the flexibility afforded by my imprecise-probabilistic solution can be leveraged to achieve the likelihood principle (or something close to it).