Abstract
In his two major books Probability and the Logic of Rational Belief (PLRB hereafter) and The Logical Foundations of Statistical Inference (LFSI hereafter) Henry Kyburg has developed an original epistemological interpretation of probability that combines important themes from the work of both Carnap and Reichenbach. The heart of his system is an account of direct inference together with the thesis that all epistemological probabilities are to be conclusions of direct inferences from knowledge of relative frequencies. The requirement that probability be tied down to relative frequencies is Kyburg’s theme from Reichenbach’s empiricist account of probability. From Carnap’s semantical account Kyburg takes the theme that what direct inferences are appropriate from a given body of knowledge is completely determined by logic and the structure of the language in which the knowledge is formulated.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Carnap, R.: 1950, Logical Foundations of Probability (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).
Carnap, R. and Jeffrey, R. C.: 1971, Studies in Inductive Logic and Probability (University of California Press, Los Angeles).
Fisher, R. A.: 1950, Statistical Methods and Scientific Inference (Hafner Publishing Company, New York).
Goodman, N.: 1955, Fact, Fiction and Forecast (Bobbs-Merrill, New York).
Hempel, C. G.: 1965, Aspects of Scientific Explanation (The Free Press, New York).
Kyburg, H. E.: 1961, Probability and the Logic of Rational Belief (Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Conn.).
Kyburg, H. E.: 1970, ‘Conjunctivitis’, in M. Swain (ed.), Induction, Acceptance and Rational Belief (Reidel, Dordrecht).
Kyburg, H. E.: 1974, The Logical Foundations of Statistical Inference (Reidel, Dordrecht).
Kyburg, H. E.: 1976, ‘Chance’, in Journal of Philosophical Logic 5, 355–393.
Kyburg, H. E.: 1977a, Notes circulated privately.
Kyburg, H. E.: 1977b, ‘All Acceptable Generalisations are Analytic’, American Philosophical Quarterly 14, 201–210.
Kyburg, H. E.: 1977c, ‘Randomness and the Right Reference Class’, Journal of Philosophy 74, 501–520.
Kyburg, H. E.: 1979, ‘Randomness’, Journal of American Statistical Assoc. (forthcoming).
Kyburg, H. E.: 1980, ‘Conditionalisation’, Journal of Philosophy 77, 98–114.
Levi, I.: 1974, ‘On Indeterminate Probabilities’, Journal of Philosophy 71, 391–418.
Levi, I.: 1977, ‘Direct Inference’, Journal of Philosophy 74, 5–29.
Levi, I.: 1978, ‘Confirmational Conditionalisation’, Journal of Philosophy 75, 730–737.
Quine, W. V.: 1940, Mathematical Logic (New York).
Reichenbach, H.: 1944, The Theory of Probability (University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles).
Salmon, W.: 1966, The Foundations of Scientific Inference (University of Pittsburgh Press., Pittsburgh).
Savage, L. J.: 1954, The Foundations of Statistical Inference (John Wiley & Sons, New York).
Schick, F.: 1963, ‘Consistency and Rationality’, Journal of Philosophy 60, 453–462.
Whitehead, A. N., and Russell, B.: 1910, Principia Mathematica (Cambridge University Press, New York).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1981 D. Reidel Publishing Company
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Harper, W.L. (1981). Kyburg on Direct Inference. In: Bogdan, R.J. (eds) Henry E. Kyburg, Jr. & Isaac Levi. Profiles, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7718-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7718-1_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-277-1309-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-7718-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive