Symmetry and its discontents: essays on the history of inductive probability

293 Pages·2005·1.075 MB·English

by  S. L. Zabell

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Symmetry and Its Discontents
Thisvolumebringstogetheracollectionofessaysonthehistoryandphilosophy
of probability and statistics by one of the eminent scholars in these subjects.
Written over the last fifteen years, they fall into three broad categories. The
first deals with the use of symmetry arguments in inductive probability, in
particular, their use in deriving rules of succession (Carnap’s “continuum of
inductivemethods”).Thesecondgroupdealswithfouroutstandingindividuals
who made lasting contributions to probability and statistics in very different
ways:FrankRamsey,R.A.Fisher,AlanTuring,andAbrahamdeMoivre.The
lastgroupofessaysdealswiththeproblemof“predictingtheunpredictable”–
making predictions when the range of possible outcomes is unknown in ad-
vance.Theessaysweavetogetherthehistoryandphilosophyofthesesubjects
and document the fascination that they have exercised for more than three
centuries.
S. L. Zabell is professor of mathematics and statistics at Northwestern Uni-
versity.AFellowoftheInstituteofMathematicalStatisticsandtheAmerican
StatisticalAssociation,heservesontheeditorialboardsofCambridgeStudies
in Probability, Induction, and Decision Theory, and The Collected Works of
RudolphCarnap.HereceivedtheDistinguishedTeachingAwardfromNorth-
westernUniversityin1992.

CambridgeStudiesinProbability,
Induction,andDecisionTheory
Generaleditor:BrianSkyrms
Advisoryeditors:ErnestW.Adams,KenBinmore,JeremyButterfield,
PersiDiaconis,WilliamL.Harper,JohnHarsanyi,
RichardC.Jeffrey,JamesM.Joyce,WlodekRabinowicz,
WolfgangSpohn,PatrickSuppes,SandyZabell
ElleryEells,ProbabilisticCausality
RichardJeffrey,ProbabilityandtheArtofJudgment
RobertC.Koons,ParadoxesofBeliefandStrategicRationality
Cristina Bicchieri and Maria Luisa Dalla Chiara (eds.), Knowledge, Belief,
andStrategicInteractions
PatrickMaher,BettingonTheories
CristinaBicchieri,RationalityandCoordination
J.HowardSobel,TakingChances
JanvonPlato,CreatingModernProbability:ItsMathematics,Physics,and
PhilosophyinHistoricalPerspective
ElleryEellsandBrianSkyrms(eds.),ProbabilityandConditionals
CristinaBicchieri,RichardJeffrey,andBrianSkyrms(eds.),TheDynamics
ofNorms
PatrickSuppesandMarioZanotti,FoundationsofProbabilitywith
Applications
PaulWeirich,EquilibriumandRationality
DanielHausman,CausalAsymmetries
WilliamA.Dembski,TheDesignInference
JamesM.Joyce,TheFoundationsofCausalDecisionTheory
YairGuttmann,TheConceptofProbabilityinStatisticalPhysics
JosephB.Kadane,MarkB.Schervish,andTeddySeidenfeld(eds.),
RethinkingtheFoundationsofStatistics
PhilDowe,PhysicalCausation
SvenOveHaussan,TheStructureofValuesandNorms
PaulWeirich,DecisionSpace

Symmetry and Its Discontents
Essays on the History of Inductive Probability
S. L. ZABELL
NorthwesternUniversity
  
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridge,UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridg e.org /9780521444705
© S. L. Zabell 2005
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withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublishedinprintformat 2005
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