Probability Theory: Philosophy, Recent History and Relations to Science

ISBN-13: 9789048156979 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 197 str.

Vincent F. Hendricks; Stig Andur Pedersen; Klaus Frovin Jorgensen

Opis

A collection of papers presented at the conference on Probability Theory - Philosophy, Recent History and Relations to Science, University of Roskilde, Denmark, September 16-18, 1998. Since the measure theoretical definition of probability was proposed by Kolmogorov, probability theory has developed into a mature mathematical theory. It is today a fruitful field of mathematics that has important applications in philosophy, science, engineering, and many other areas. The measure theoretical definition of probability and its axioms, however, are not without their problems; some of them even puzzled Kolmogorov. This book sheds light on some recent discussions of the problems in probability theory and their history, analysing their philosophical and mathematical significance, and the role pf mathematical probability theory in other sciences.

Spis treści

Preface. Contributing Authors. Introduction; V.F. Hendricks, et al. Original Abstracts. Part 1: The Philosophy and Recent History of Probability Theory and Statistics. Probability and Statistics: Some Thoughts at the Turn of the Millennium; N.H. Bingham. Kolmogorov's Complexity Conception of Probability; V. Vovk. Emile Borel's View of Probability Theory; E. Knobloch. The Reception of John Venn's Philosophy of Probability; B.E. Kilinç. Part 2: Contemporary Issues in Probability Theory and Statistics. On the Distribution of Probability Functions in the Natural World; J.B. Paris. Nature's Possibilities and Expectations; G. Shafer. Remarks on the Theory of Conditional Probability: Some Issues of Finite versus Countable Additivity; T. Seidenfeld. Index.