Philosophy – Page 3 – William M. Briggs

Our Base Metaphors & Analogies Used In Science Have Outlived Their Usefulness: Part I

Metaphors and analogies exhaust themselves. No matter how useful they are as guides to thought, pushed too far they can loosen our grip on Reality or lead to stagnation, and…

Philosophy Statistics

How Not To Think Like A Bayesian Rationalist

Lisping Rationalists When I read people like Eliezer Yudkowsky and Scott Alexander it becomes clear to me how the French could have built a Temple of Reason during The Terror.…

Philosophy

How Failing To Butcher Your Child Became “Child Abuse”

Three females, which I believe is significant, took to the pages of the journal Pediatrics and argued that failing to have a surgeon mutilate your child (for a large fee)…

Philosophy Statistics

The Frequency Interpretation Of Probability Is False: Some Reasons Contra von Mises

What is the chance that "Donald Trump wins the 2024 Presidential election"? Impossible to say, says Richard von Mises, because the event is singular and must be embedded in an…

Fun Philosophy

A Christmas Carol Revisited — Guest Post by Richard Law

Richard Law is a retired web engineer and writer living in Switzerland. 'Tis the season for Charles Dickens' (1812-1870) deservedly popular tale of the time-travels of Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas…

Philosophy

Doom For The Doomsday Argument

Heard of the Doomsday Argument, sometimes also called the Carter Catastrophe? It claims to be able to name the date, with a certain confidence, at which mankind dies off. It…

Philosophy

What Makes A Casino Gamble Different Than Making A Decision Under Uncertainty?

We continue with our week of pleasant Thanksgiving topics. A cop in the police procedural Hell Is A City (start around 54 minutes) discerned one of the bad guys he…

Culture Philosophy

Sex With Dogs & Other Critters Back In Vogue, Thanks To Academic Peter Singer

Very long time readers will know that we warned that the creation of the notion of "sexual orientation", and the criminalizing of "discrimination" against "sexual orientations", logically implied that all…

John Pate on Class 62: Die P-value, Die! Die! Die!August 22, 2025
...and another thing: in Fisher's works first understanding the distribution of what you're measuring in population you are sampling from…
JH on Class 62: Die P-value, Die! Die! Die!August 22, 2025
Since your definition of p-values is not entirely correct, FYI - understanding p-values and different meanings of p-value
John Pate on Class 62: Die P-value, Die! Die! Die!August 22, 2025
To be fair to R.A. Fisher he warned people were over-enthusiastic about applying the tools he provided. He wasn't as…
McChuck on Class 62: Die P-value, Die! Die! Die!August 21, 2025
"Faster, pussycat! Kill! Kill!" You can't repeat the mantra enough.
gareth on The Key Role Of Probability & Chance In ScienceAugust 20, 2025
"I have answered three six questions, and that is enough," Said his father Briggs; "don't give yourself airs! Do you…