Philosophy Cambridge Mellor Probability Introduction
Articles by |
Books written by |
edited by |
D. H. Mellor
Probability:
A Philosophical Introduction
D. H. Mellor
London:
Routledge 2005, pp. xi+152
This book introduces and explains the principal concepts and applications of probability. It is for philosophers and others who want to understand probability as we apply it in our working and everyday lives. The role of probability in modern theories of knowledge, inference, induction, causation, laws of nature, action and decision-making makes an understanding of it especially important to philosophers and students of philosophy, for whom the book is intended both as a textbook and a work of reference. (It is however not a course in mathematical probability, of which it uses only the simplest results.) The book distinguishes the three basic kinds of probability - physical, epistemic, and subjective - and introduces and assesses the main theories and interpretations of them. The topics and concepts covered include chance, frequency, possibility, propensity, credence, confirmation and Bayesianism.
Review in Mind 115 (2006), 773-7
Review in Theoria 70 (2011), 99-103
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Preface
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2. Epistemic and Other Probabilities 3. Inductive Logic 4. Chances as Evidence 5. Confirmation Relations 2. The Pro Rata Rule 3. Epistemic Probabilities 4. Problems with Priors 5. Prior Credences 6. Bayes's Theorem 7. Bayesianism 2. Consistency 3. Reliability 4. Uncertain Evidence 2. Bayes's Proposition 3 3. Decisions and Credences 4. Conditional Bets 5. Imaging 6. Non-Bayesian Behaviour 7. Conclusion 2. The Large Numbers Link 3. Independence 4. Chances and Estimates 5. Exchangeability 6. Frequencies and Credences 7. Subjectivism References |
Updated 12 September 2019
