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Symbolism and Chance

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Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 67))

Abstract

Perhaps the hardest concept in science for most of us to think about is that of randomness. The theme of this essay is that the difficulty arises because of a conflict between thinking in terms of probabilities an-another kind of thinking which I will call symbolic, but which could as well be called analogical.

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References

  • David, F. N.: 1962, Games, Gods and Gambling, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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  • Gruber, H. E.: 1974, Darwin on Man, Wildwood House, London.

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  • Levi-Strauss, C.: 1966, The Savage Mind, Weldenfeld and Nicholson, London.

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  • Needham, J.: 1956, Science and Civilization in China, Vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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  • Sperber, D.: 1975, Rethinking Symbolism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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© 1981 D. Reidel Publishing Company

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Smith, J.M. (1981). Symbolism and Chance. In: Agassi, J., Cohen, R.S. (eds) Scientific Philosophy Today. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 67. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8462-2_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8462-2_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-277-1263-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-8462-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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