Update on the Papineau Saga: Correction Made, But Error Is Still There

Hi All,

You may remember the last post in which I pointed out an error in a paper by David Papineau. Now I have to write again with an update. I was browsing PhilPapers and I saw, to my delight, that a Correction to this paper has been issued:

Almost dripping with excitement, I proceeded straight to the correction. 'I wonder if this came about as a result of my previous post about the error', I was thinking.

I clicked through and saw that the error is not described - it just says that the original article has been corrected. So, I went and looked again and the original article. But, to my dismay, the error I noticed and reported in my previous post was still present!

It would be hard to discover what error was corrected. I do not possess a copy of the original paper, and so can not compare it in detail to the new version in order to see what has changed, thus disclosing what the error was. (If anyone is able to help with this, please leave a comment in the comments or email me.)

In any case, the original error is very much still there. I hope that Springer will allow another correction to be made, once this comes to their attention.

I should say: this is a very interesting, provocative paper. It would be a shame if it were forever marred by this error.

As I write this, it occurs to me that David Papineau is quite an eminent writer. Perhaps there will be a book of his collected papers some day, and in that case, perhaps the error will finally be corrected there. In that case, we would not need to worry about whether Springer will permit a second correction to the Synthese version: it is enough for me if a book comes out in which the error is corrected.

I hope this soon comes to everyone's attention. I will write again on this blog if I see or hear any further developments!

Synthese

pp 1–22| Cite as

The disvalue of knowledge

• Authors
• Authors and affiliations

• David Papineau

1. 1.
2. 2.

Open Access

Epistemic Rationality

First Online: 04 October 2019

An Error By David Papineau in a Recent Paper in Synthese

I am here, reinstating the Pilos, to call attention to an error in a paper by David Papineau. I've got you David Papineau. You are guilty of an error here. 

There was also an error where a paper was referred to in Author Date format but there was no entry for it in the bibliography. There was another error in the text as well, which I won't mention.
Papineau, David (forthcoming). The disvalue of knowledge. Synthese:1-22.