Abstract
The present paper is offered largely in the spirit of an historical conjecture. It is my view that Venn holds a place of great significance in the history of the philosophy of probability, and that the importance of his contribution is not generally appreciated. The main aim of this paper is to outline this contribution and argue for its significance. I have no serious doubts as to the importance of the ideas to be found in Venn’s work, but I cannot say with complete confidence to what degree they were unanticipated by other authors. To the extent that I am familiar with the work of his predecessors, it strikes me that Venn’s contribution was highly original, but I readily concede that my knowledge in this respect is far from exhaustive. Let me, therefore, set out what I take to be the most significant aspects of his work in the hope that others who are more knowledgeable in the historical aspect will be able to correct any historical injustices I may commit.
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Salmon, W.C. (1980). John Venn’s Logic of Chance. In: Hintikka, J., Gruender, D., Agazzi, E. (eds) Probabilistic Thinking, Thermodynamics and the Interaction of the History and Philosophy of Science. Synthese Library, vol 146. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2766-2_6
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