Contents
11 found
Order:
  1. What is the upper limit of value?David Manheim & Anders Sandberg - manuscript
    How much value can our decisions create? We argue that unless our current understanding of physics is wrong in fairly fundamental ways, there exists an upper limit of value relevant to our decisions. First, due to the speed of light and the definition and conception of economic growth, the limit to economic growth is a restrictive one. Additionally, a related far larger but still finite limit exists for value in a much broader sense due to the physics of information and (...)
    Remove from this list   Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  2. More trouble for regular probabilitites.Matthew W. Parker - 2012
    In standard probability theory, probability zero is not the same as impossibility. But many have suggested that only impossible events should have probability zero. This can be arranged if we allow infinitesimal probabilities, but infinitesimals do not solve all of the problems. We will see that regular probabilities are not invariant over rigid transformations, even for simple, bounded, countable, constructive, and disjoint sets. Hence, regular chances cannot be determined by space-time invariant physical laws, and regular credences cannot satisfy seemingly reasonable (...)
    Remove from this list   Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   3 citations  
  3. Totality, Regularity, and Cardinality in Probability Theory.Paolo Mancosu & Guillaume Massas - 2024 - Philosophy of Science 91 (3):721-740.
    Recent developments in generalized probability theory have renewed a debate about whether regularity (i.e., the constraint that only logical contradictions get assigned probability 0) should be a necessary feature of both chances and credences. Crucial to this debate, however, are some mathematical facts regarding the interplay between the existence of regular generalized probability measures and various cardinality assumptions. We improve on several known results in the literature regarding the existence of regular generalized probability measures. In particular, we give necessary and (...)
    Remove from this list   Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  4. Hermann Cohen’s Principle of the Infinitesimal Method: A Defense.Scott Edgar - 2020 - Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 10 (2):440-470.
    In Bertrand Russell's 1903 Principles of Mathematics, he offers an apparently devastating criticism of the neo-Kantian Hermann Cohen's Principle of the Infinitesimal Method and its History (PIM). Russell's criticism is motivated by his concern that Cohen's account of the foundations of calculus saddles mathematics with the paradoxes of the infinitesimal and continuum, and thus threatens the very idea of mathematical truth. This paper defends Cohen against that objection of Russell's, and argues that properly understood, Cohen's views of limits and infinitesimals (...)
    Remove from this list   Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  5. Utilitarianism with and without expected utility.David McCarthy, Kalle Mikkola & Joaquin Teruji Thomas - 2020 - Journal of Mathematical Economics 87:77-113.
    We give two social aggregation theorems under conditions of risk, one for constant population cases, the other an extension to variable populations. Intra and interpersonal welfare comparisons are encoded in a single ‘individual preorder’. The theorems give axioms that uniquely determine a social preorder in terms of this individual preorder. The social preorders described by these theorems have features that may be considered characteristic of Harsanyi-style utilitarianism, such as indifference to ex ante and ex post equality. However, the theorems are (...)
    Remove from this list   Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   8 citations  
  6. (1 other version)Symmetry arguments against regular probability: A reply to recent objections.Matthew W. Parker - 2019 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 9 (1):1-21.
    A probability distribution is regular if it does not assign probability zero to any possible event. While some hold that probabilities should always be regular, three counter-arguments have been posed based on examples where, if regularity holds, then perfectly similar events must have different probabilities. Howson and Benci et al. have raised technical objections to these symmetry arguments, but we see here that their objections fail. Howson says that Williamson’s “isomorphic” events are not in fact isomorphic, but Howson is speaking (...)
    Remove from this list   Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   7 citations  
  7. (1 other version)Symmetry arguments against regular probability: A reply to recent objections.Matthew W. Parker - 2018 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 9 (1):8.
    A probability distribution is regular if no possible event is assigned probability zero. While some hold that probabilities should always be regular, three counter-arguments have been posed based on examples where, if regularity holds, then perfectly similar events must have different probabilities. Howson (2017) and Benci et al. (2016) have raised technical objections to these symmetry arguments, but we see here that their objections fail. Howson says that Williamson’s (2007) “isomorphic” events are not in fact isomorphic, but Howson is speaking (...)
    Remove from this list   Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   8 citations  
  8. Berkeley: El origen de la crítica a los infinitesimales / Berkeley: The Origin of his Critics to Infinitesimals.Alberto Luis López - 2014 - Cuadernos Salmantinos de Filosofía 41 (1):195-217.
    BERKELEY: THE ORIGIN OF CRITICISM OF THE INFINITESIMALS Abstract: In this paper I propose a new reading of a little known George Berkeley´s work Of Infinites. Hitherto, the work has been studied partially, or emphasizing only the mathematical contributions, downplaying the philosophical aspects, or minimizing mathematical issues taking into account only the incipient immaterialism. Both readings have been pernicious for the correct comprehension of the work and that has brought as a result that will follow underestimated its importance, and therefore (...)
    Remove from this list   Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  9. Fair infinite lotteries.Sylvia Wenmackers & Leon Horsten - 2013 - Synthese 190 (1):37-61.
    This article discusses how the concept of a fair finite lottery can best be extended to denumerably infinite lotteries. Techniques and ideas from non-standard analysis are brought to bear on the problem.
    Remove from this list   Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   42 citations  
  10. Philosophy of Probability: Foundations, Epistemology, and Computation.Sylvia Wenmackers - 2011 - Dissertation, University of Groningen
    This dissertation is a contribution to formal and computational philosophy. -/- In the first part, we show that by exploiting the parallels between large, yet finite lotteries on the one hand and countably infinite lotteries on the other, we gain insights in the foundations of probability theory as well as in epistemology. Case 1: Infinite lotteries. We discuss how the concept of a fair finite lottery can best be extended to denumerably infinite lotteries. The solution boils down to the introduction (...)
    Remove from this list   Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   5 citations  
  11. Numerical computations and mathematical modelling with infinite and infinitesimal numbers.Yaroslav Sergeyev - 2009 - Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computing 29:177-195.
    Traditional computers work with finite numbers. Situations where the usage of infinite or infinitesimal quantities is required are studied mainly theoretically. In this paper, a recently introduced computational methodology (that is not related to the non-standard analysis) is used to work with finite, infinite, and infinitesimal numbers numerically. This can be done on a new kind of a computer – the Infinity Computer – able to work with all these types of numbers. The new computational tools both give possibilities to (...)
    Remove from this list   Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   3 citations