Abstract
It is a well-known fact that idealizations play a large role in science. Thus, in celestial mechanics the planets are treated as mass points, and in the physics of ordinary matter we use the methods of the differential and integral calculus although we know very well that ordinary matter is not continuous and that integrals taken over a volume of matter should be replaced by sums taken over molecules.
Translated from ‘Ist die limes-Theorie der Wahrscheinlichkeit eine sinnvolle Idealisierung?’, Synthese 5 (1946/47) 90–1. (The paper was written in 1939 in The Hague at the suggestion of Otto Neurath.)
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Notes
E. Nagel, Principles of the Theory of Probability, International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, Vol. I, No. 6, Chicago 1939 (in particular p. 54).
R. v. Mises, Wahrscheinlichkeit, Statistik und Wahrheit, Berlin 1928.
C. C. Hempel, Unity of Science Forum, September 1938.
As to the approximating character of science, cf. V. F. Lenzen, Procedures of Empirical Science, International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, Vol. I, No. 5, Chicago 1938.
Outlines of such a theory are suggested in M. Strauss, ‘Problems of Probability Theory in the Light of Quantum Mechanics, Part III’, Unity of Science Forum, April 1939, 65–71.
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© 1972 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
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Strauss, M. (1972). Is the Frequency Limit Interpretation of Probability a Meaningful Idealization?. In: Modern Physics and its Philosophy. Synthese Library, vol 43. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2893-6_7
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