Concept
Probability
Overview
measure of the expectation that an event will occur or a statement is true
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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It is, however, probable that any one of these events, selected at pleasure, will not take place; because we perceive several cases, all equally possible, which exclude its occurrence, and only one which favors it. “The theory of chances consists in reducing all events of the same kind to a certain number of cases equally possible, that is, such that we are _equally undecided_ as to their existence; and in…
John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive
States what Probability is; names Probability several times.
As to what is meant by probability, opinions differ. Mr. Keynes takes it as a fundamental logical category: certain premisses may make a conclusion more or less probable, without making it certain. For him, probability is a relation between a premiss and a conclusion. A proposition does not have a definite probability on its own account; in itself, it is merely true or false. But it has probabilities of different…
Bertrand Russell, Philosophy
Names Probability several times; states what Probability is.
Secondly, the component parts of this possibility and probability are of the same nature, and differ in number only, but not in kind. It has been observed, that all single chances are entirely equal, and that the only circumstance, which can give any event that is contingent a superiority over another, is a superior number of chances.
David Hume, Philosophical Works, v. 1
The chapter “OF THE PROBABILITY OF CAUSES.” is titled for Probability; states what Probability is.
Philosophers who discussed Probability
- Ernest Nagel
- Giambattista Vico
- Karl Popper
- Per Martin-Löf
- Richard Price
- William Whewell
- Frank P. Ramsey
- John Venn
- Blaise Pascal
- Jean Le Rond d'Alembert
- Ludwig Boltzmann
- Rudolf Carnap
- Charles Sanders Peirce
- Hugh Mellor
- Brian Skyrms
- Colin Howson
- John L. Pollock
- Jan Śniadecki
Related ideas
- Artificial intelligence
- Game theory
- Gerolamo Cardano
- Philosophy
- Karl Pearson
- Authority
- Function (mathematics)
- Quantum decoherence
- Mathematics
- Augustus De Morgan
- Real number
- Physics
- Richard Dedekind
- Probability theory
- Power set
- Risk
- Quantum mechanics
- Statistics
- Set (mathematics)
- Science
- Instrumentalism
- Nobility
- Empirical evidence
- Theory
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of Consequentialism.