Events between which we have no epistemic reason to discriminate have
equal epistemic probabilities. Bertrand’s chord paradox, however,
appears to show this to be false, and thereby poses a general threat
to probabilities for continuum sized state spaces. Articulating the
nature of such spaces involves some deep mathematics and that is
perhaps why the recent literature on Bertrand’s Paradox has been
almost entirely from mathematicians and physicists, who have often
deployed elegant mathematics of considerable sophistication. At the
same time, the philosophy of probability has been left out. In
particular, left out entirely are the philosophical ground of the
principle of indifference, the nature of the principle itself, the
stringent constraint this places on the mathematical representation of
the principle needed for its application to continuum sized event
spaces, and what these entail for rigour in developing the paradox
itself. This book puts the philosophy and its entailments back in and
in so doing casts a new light on the paradox, giving original analyses
of the paradox, its possible solutions, the source of the paradox, the
philosophical errors we make in attempting to solve it and what the
paradox proves for the philosophy of probability. The book finishes
with the author’s proposed solution—a solution in the spirit of
Bertrand’s, indeed—in which an epistemic principle more general
than the principle of indifference offers a principled restriction of
the domain of the principle of indifference. Bertrand's Paradox and
the Principle of Indifference will appeal to scholars and advanced
students working in the philosophy of mathematics, epistemology,
philosophy of science, probability theory and mathematical physics.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781003813361
Publisert
2024
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Taylor & Francis
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter