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Scientific Inference: Two Points of View

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Ronald N. Giere
Ronald N. Giere*
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
*
†Department of Philosophy, 355 Ford Hall, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455.
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Abstract

This short paper serves as an introduction to a debate between representatives of two fundamentally different points of view regarding the nature of scientific inference. Colin Howson and Peter Urbach represent a Bayesian point of view and Deborah Mayo represents a version of classical statistics called error statistics. The paper begins by reviewing earlier versions of the same two points of view due to Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach, respectively. After a few remarks about philosophical approaches to understanding scientific reasoning between 1960 and 1980, I turn to substantive differences between the two approaches.

Information

Type
Symposium: Philosophy of Statistics and Epistemology of Experiment: Bayesian vs. Error Statistical Approaches
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 64 , Issue S4: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1996 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers Dec., 1997 , 1997 , pp. S180 - S184
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1997

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References

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