The Science of Conjecture

"In The Science of Conjecture, James Franklin examines how judges, witch inquisitors, and juries evaluated evidence; scientists weighed reasons for and against scientific theories; and merchants counted shipwrecks to determine insurance rates. Sometimes this type of reasoning avoided numbers entirely, as in the legal standard of "proof beyond a reasonable doubt"; at other times it involved rough numerical estimates, such as gambling odds or the level of risk in chance events. The Science of Conjecture provides a history of rational methods of dealing with uncertainty."--BOOK JACKET.

Year

2002

Language

English

Publisher

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Editions

5

Pages

512

ISBN

9780801871092

Data source: Wikidata