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| Original Title: | The Emergence of Probability: A Philosophical Study of Early Ideas About Probability, Induction and Statistical Inference |
| ISBN: | 0521318033 (ISBN13: 9780521318037) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Ian Hacking
Paperback | Pages: 201 pages Rating: 3.97 | 148 Users | 14 Reviews
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Hacking's genealogy of probability is what reading Foucault would be like if Foucault was enjoyable to read. The first half is an account of how the idea of something being "probable" went from meaning that it was attested to by an authority to allowing the world itself to be such an authority, to then being associated with what we moderns think of as "evidence" (that is, not just the fact that someone says something is the case, but observing some testimony-independent facts). By telling this story, Hacking complicates ordinary language philosophy by quoting Gassendi (one of Descartes' contemporaries) in 1658, saying:"We use the expressions 'to have an opinion' and 'to know' interchangeably, as the practice of everyday speech shows, and if you look at the matter carefully, knowledge and opinion can be considered synonyms".
"To know" doesn't mean what it used to.
And there's an equally interesting discussion of the emergence of the scientific method, in which Hacking distinguishes four attitudes towards experimentation:
Dissection (cutting things open to see how they work), the test (theory T predicts that x should be followed by y, so bring about x and see if it is followed by y; if it is, the theory is corroborated, if not, it is confuted), the adventure(!) (just combining stuff for the fun of it, like the alchemists, not guided by theory, seeing what happens), and the diagnosis.
I confess that the alchemist's notion of experiment as adventure sounds like the most fun to me.
Describe Out Of Books The Emergence of Probability: A Philosophical Study of Early Ideas about Probability, Induction and Statistical Inference
| Title | : | The Emergence of Probability: A Philosophical Study of Early Ideas about Probability, Induction and Statistical Inference |
| Author | : | Ian Hacking |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 201 pages |
| Published | : | August 31st 1984 by Cambridge University Press (first published April 24th 1975) |
| Categories | : | Philosophy. Science. Mathematics. History. Nonfiction. History Of Science |
Rating Out Of Books The Emergence of Probability: A Philosophical Study of Early Ideas about Probability, Induction and Statistical Inference
Ratings: 3.97 From 148 Users | 14 ReviewsComment On Out Of Books The Emergence of Probability: A Philosophical Study of Early Ideas about Probability, Induction and Statistical Inference
This book draws a sharp distinction between epistemic probability (the kind that "proves" or offers grounds for belief in something) and aleatory probability (the kind that is based on a distribution, whether formal or from observations, or from chance or luck). The book also attempts to point to the originating insights into the divergence that resulted in this distinction, and the chapters on Leibniz's approach that informs his entire philosophy are welcome elucidations or contributions onIan Hacking is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, specialised in the History of Science. Wikipedia entry
As advertised, my intuition for probability has increased ;).I think the importance of the difference between aleatory and epistemic probability is a bit forced. I guess the author is covering his tracks for modern critics ^^;
Hacking's genealogy of probability is what reading Foucault would be like if Foucault was enjoyable to read. The first half is an account of how the idea of something being "probable" went from meaning that it was attested to by an authority to allowing the world itself to be such an authority, to then being associated with what we moderns think of as "evidence" (that is, not just the fact that someone says something is the case, but observing some testimony-independent facts). By telling this
I chose this book by mistake. As a Mathematician i expected this book to be much more mathematical but it turned out to be fully philosophical!Considering this was my first book on philosophy, it took me a long time reading it. The Author expect the reader to have a firm knowledge of philosophy and be familiar with work of Descartes, Bacon .... which made me to have a computer on my side and search throughout my reading.Although i admit i did not grasp all the concepts and did not fully/deeply
An excellent history of philosophy sort of take on 'the conditions of possibility' of probability theory as 'degree of belief'. I liked this book better than Daston's more history of science book 'Classical Probability in the Enlightenment', which covers roughly the same period but seems to make a more specific argument. Where hacking argues that probability emerged in the aftermath of a new way of reading and evaluating evidence -- beyond testimony, daston has a more histor-y approach where she
While the setting and the idea of the book is great and I enjoyed it the book was very hard to read through.
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