Bayesianism and Scientific Reasoning

Bayesianism and Scientific Reasoning PDF Author: Jonah N. Schupbach
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110865942X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This Element explores the Bayesian approach to the logic and epistemology of scientific reasoning. Section 1 introduces the probability calculus as an appealing generalization of classical logic for uncertain reasoning. Section 2 explores some of the vast terrain of Bayesian epistemology. Three epistemological postulates suggested by Thomas Bayes in his seminal work guide the exploration. This section discusses modern developments and defenses of these postulates as well as some important criticisms and complications that lie in wait for the Bayesian epistemologist. Section 3 applies the formal tools and principles of the first two sections to a handful of topics in the epistemology of scientific reasoning: confirmation, explanatory reasoning, evidential diversity and robustness analysis, hypothesis competition, and Ockham's Razor.

Bayesianism and Scientific Reasoning

Bayesianism and Scientific Reasoning PDF Author: Jonah N. Schupbach
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110865942X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book

Book Description
This Element explores the Bayesian approach to the logic and epistemology of scientific reasoning. Section 1 introduces the probability calculus as an appealing generalization of classical logic for uncertain reasoning. Section 2 explores some of the vast terrain of Bayesian epistemology. Three epistemological postulates suggested by Thomas Bayes in his seminal work guide the exploration. This section discusses modern developments and defenses of these postulates as well as some important criticisms and complications that lie in wait for the Bayesian epistemologist. Section 3 applies the formal tools and principles of the first two sections to a handful of topics in the epistemology of scientific reasoning: confirmation, explanatory reasoning, evidential diversity and robustness analysis, hypothesis competition, and Ockham's Razor.

Scientific Reasoning

Scientific Reasoning PDF Author: Colin Howson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
"Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach explains, in an accessible style, those elements of the probability calculus that are relevant to Bayesian methods, and argues that the probability calculus is best regarded as a species of logic." "Howson and Urbach contrast the Bayesian with the 'classical' view that was so influential in the last century, and demonstrate that familiar classical procedures for evaluating statistical hypotheses, such as significance tests, point estimation, confidence intervals, and other techniques, provide an utterly false basis for scientific inference. They also expose the well-known non-probabilistic philosophies of Popper, Lakatos, and Kuhn as similarly unscientific." "Scientific Reasoning shows how Bayesian theory, by contrast with these increasingly discredited approaches, provides a unified and highly satisfactory account of scientific method, an account which practicing scientists and all those interested in the sciences ought to master."--BOOK JACKET.

Bayesian Rationality

Bayesian Rationality PDF Author: Mike Oaksford
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198524498
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
For almost 2,500 years, the Western concept of what is to be human has been dominated by the idea that the mind is the seat of reason - humans are, almost by definition, the rational animal. In this text a more radical suggestion for explaining these puzzling aspects of human reasoning is put forward.

Bayesian Philosophy of Science

Bayesian Philosophy of Science PDF Author: Jan Sprenger
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191652229
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
How should we reason in science? Jan Sprenger and Stephan Hartmann offer a refreshing take on classical topics in philosophy of science, using a single key concept to explain and to elucidate manifold aspects of scientific reasoning. They present good arguments and good inferences as being characterized by their effect on our rational degrees of belief. Refuting the view that there is no place for subjective attitudes in 'objective science', Sprenger and Hartmann explain the value of convincing evidence in terms of a cycle of variations on the theme of representing rational degrees of belief by means of subjective probabilities (and changing them by Bayesian conditionalization). In doing so, they integrate Bayesian inference—the leading theory of rationality in social science—with the practice of 21st century science. Bayesian Philosophy of Science thereby shows how modeling such attitudes improves our understanding of causes, explanations, confirming evidence, and scientific models in general. It combines a scientifically minded and mathematically sophisticated approach with conceptual analysis and attention to methodological problems of modern science, especially in statistical inference, and is therefore a valuable resource for philosophers and scientific practitioners.

Bayesian Reasoning in Data Analysis

Bayesian Reasoning in Data Analysis PDF Author: Giulio D'Agostini
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814486094
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
This book provides a multi-level introduction to Bayesian reasoning (as opposed to “conventional statistics”) and its applications to data analysis. The basic ideas of this “new” approach to the quantification of uncertainty are presented using examples from research and everyday life. Applications covered include: parametric inference; combination of results; treatment of uncertainty due to systematic errors and background; comparison of hypotheses; unfolding of experimental distributions; upper/lower bounds in frontier-type measurements. Approximate methods for routine use are derived and are shown often to coincide — under well-defined assumptions! — with “standard” methods, which can therefore be seen as special cases of the more general Bayesian methods. In dealing with uncertainty in measurements, modern metrological ideas are utilized, including the ISO classification of uncertainty into type A and type B. These are shown to fit well into the Bayesian framework. Contents: Critical Review and Outline of the Bayesian Alternative:Uncertainty in Physics and the Usual Methods of Handling ItA Probabilistic Theory of Measurement UncertaintyA Bayesian Primer:Subjective Probability and Bayes' TheoremProbability Distributions (A Concise Reminder)Bayesian Inference of Continuous QuantitiesGaussian LikelihoodCounting ExperimentsBypassing Bayes' Theorem for Routine ApplicationsBayesian UnfoldingFurther Comments, Examples and Applications:Miscellanea on General Issues in Probability and InferenceCombination of Experimental Results: A Closer LookAsymmetric Uncertainties and Nonlinear PropagationWhich Priors for Frontier Physics?Conclusion:Conclusions and Bibliography Readership: Graduate students and researchers interested in probability and statistics and their applications in science, particularly the evaluation of uncertainty in measurements. Keywords:Probability;Bayesian Statistics;Error Theory;Measurement Uncertainty;MetrologyReviews:“… statistics textbooks must take seriously the need to teach the foundations of statistical reasoning from the beginning … D'Agostini's new book does this admirably, building an edifice of Bayesian statistical reasoning in the physical sciences on solid foundations.”Journal of the American Statistical Association

Modeling and Reasoning with Bayesian Networks

Modeling and Reasoning with Bayesian Networks PDF Author: Adnan Darwiche
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521884381
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 561

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Book Description
This book provides a thorough introduction to the formal foundations and practical applications of Bayesian networks. It provides an extensive discussion of techniques for building Bayesian networks that model real-world situations, including techniques for synthesizing models from design, learning models from data, and debugging models using sensitivity analysis. It also treats exact and approximate inference algorithms at both theoretical and practical levels. The author assumes very little background on the covered subjects, supplying in-depth discussions for theoretically inclined readers and enough practical details to provide an algorithmic cookbook for the system developer.

Bayesian Reasoning and Machine Learning

Bayesian Reasoning and Machine Learning PDF Author: David Barber
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521518148
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 739

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Book Description
A practical introduction perfect for final-year undergraduate and graduate students without a solid background in linear algebra and calculus.

Foundations of Bayesianism

Foundations of Bayesianism PDF Author: D. Corfield
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401715866
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
This is an authoritative collection of papers addressing the key challenges that face the Bayesian interpretation of probability today. The volume includes important criticisms of Bayesian reasoning and gives an insight into some of the points of disagreement amongst advocates of the Bayesian approach. It will be of interest to graduate students, researchers, those involved with the applications of Bayesian reasoning, and philosophers.

Bayesian Analysis for the Social Sciences

Bayesian Analysis for the Social Sciences PDF Author: Simon Jackman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9780470686638
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 598

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Book Description
Bayesian methods are increasingly being used in the social sciences, as the problems encountered lend themselves so naturally to the subjective qualities of Bayesian methodology. This book provides an accessible introduction to Bayesian methods, tailored specifically for social science students. It contains lots of real examples from political science, psychology, sociology, and economics, exercises in all chapters, and detailed descriptions of all the key concepts, without assuming any background in statistics beyond a first course. It features examples of how to implement the methods using WinBUGS – the most-widely used Bayesian analysis software in the world – and R – an open-source statistical software. The book is supported by a Website featuring WinBUGS and R code, and data sets.

Bayesian Reasoning and Gaussian Processes for Machine Learning Applications

Bayesian Reasoning and Gaussian Processes for Machine Learning Applications PDF Author: Hemachandran K
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000569594
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
This book introduces Bayesian reasoning and Gaussian processes into machine learning applications. Bayesian methods are applied in many areas, such as game development, decision making, and drug discovery. It is very effective for machine learning algorithms in handling missing data and extracting information from small datasets. Bayesian Reasoning and Gaussian Processes for Machine Learning Applications uses a statistical background to understand continuous distributions and how learning can be viewed from a probabilistic framework. The chapters progress into such machine learning topics as belief network and Bayesian reinforcement learning, which is followed by Gaussian process introduction, classification, regression, covariance, and performance analysis of Gaussian processes with other models. FEATURES Contains recent advancements in machine learning Highlights applications of machine learning algorithms Offers both quantitative and qualitative research Includes numerous case studies This book is aimed at graduates, researchers, and professionals in the field of data science and machine learning.