Probability in the Sciences

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Logical, Methodological and Philosophical Aspects of Probability

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Probability: A Composite Concept

      • Evandro Agazzi

      Pages 3-26

   3. Two Faces and Three Masks of Probability

      • Mario Bunge

      Pages 27-49

   4. Ambiguous Uses of Probability

      • Italo Scardovi

      Pages 51-66

   5. Some Logical Distinctions Exploited by Differing Analyses of Pascalian Probability

      • L. Jonathan Cohen

      Pages 67-76

   6. Probability and Confirmation

      • Craig Dilworth

      Pages 77-87

   7. Chance, Cause, and the State-Space Approach

      • Giuseppe Del Re

      Pages 89-101

   8. World as System Self-Synthesized by Quantum Networking

      • John Archibald Wheeler

      Pages 103-129

   9. A Brief Note on the Relationship between Probability, Selective Strategies and Possible Models

      • Valerio Tonini

      Pages 131-134

3. Probability, Statistics and Information

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 135-135

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   2. Critical Replications for Statistical Design

      • Leslie Kish

      Pages 137-147

   3. The Contribution of A.N. Kolmogorov to the Notion of Entropy

      • Mario Casartelli

      Pages 149-159

   4. The Probability of Singular Events

      • Hans Freudenthal

      Pages 161-164

   5. Probability, Randomness and Information

      • Arturo Carsetti

      Pages 165-172

4. Probability in the Natural Sciences

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 173-173

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   2. Probability, Organization and Evolution in Biochemistry

      • Jaques Ricard

      Pages 175-182

   3. Relativity and Probability, Classical and Quantal

      • O. Costa de Beauregard

      Pages 183-202

   4. Probabilistic Ontology and Space-Time: Updating an Historical Debate

      • Massimo Pauri

      Pages 203-215

   5. Probability and the Mystery of Quantum Mechanics

      • Alberto Cordero

      Pages 217-235

Probability has become one of the most characteristic con­ cepts of modern culture, and a 'probabilistic way of thinking' may be said to have penetrated almost every sector of our in­ tellectual life. However it would be difficult to determine an explicit list of 'positive' features, to be proposed as identifica­ tion marks of this way of thinking. One would rather say that it is characterized by certain 'negative' features, i. e. by certain at­ titudes which appear to be the negation of well established tra­ ditional assumptions, conceptual frameworks, world outlooks and the like. It is because of this opposition to tradition that the probabilistic approach is perceived as expressing a 'modern' in­ tellectual style. As an example one could mention the widespread diffidence in philosophy with respect to self -contained systems claiming to express apodictic truths, instead of which much weaker pretensions are preferred, that express 'probable' interpretations of reality, of history, of man (the hermeneutic trend). An ana­ logous example is represented by the interest devoted to the study of different patterns of 'argumentation', dealing wiht reasonings which rely not so much on the truth of the premisses and stringent formal logic links, but on a display of contextual conditions (depending on the audience, and on accepted stan­ dards, judgements, and values), which render the premisses and the conclusions more 'probable' (the new rhetoric).

• formal logic
• logic
• ontology
• probability
• quantum mechanics
• statistics
• truth

• University of Fribourg, Switzerland

  Evandro Agazzi

• University of Genova, Italy

  Evandro Agazzi

Policies and ethics