Vallverdú J. Bayesians Versus Frequentists: A Philosophical Debate on Statistical Reasoning

Berlin: Springer, 2016. - 118p.This book analyzes the origins of statistical thinking as well as its related philosophical questions, such as causality, determinism or chance. Bayesian and frequentist approaches are subjected to a historical, cognitive and epistemological analysis, making it possible to not only compare the two competing theories, but to also find a potential solution. The work pursues a naturalistic approach, proceeding from the existence of numerosity in natural environments to the existence of contemporary formulas and methodologies to heuristic pragmatism, a concept introduced in the book’s final section. This monograph will be of interest to philosophers and historians of science and students in related fields. Despite the mathematical nature of the topic, no statistical background is required, making the book a valuable read for anyone interested in the history of statistics and human cognition.Some Questions to Begin with
Ancient Statistics History in a Nutshell
The Bayesian Approach and Its Evolution Until the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
A Conceptual Reply to Reverend Bayes: The Frequentist Approach
The Coevolution, Battles, and Fights of Both Paradigms
The Birth of Multicausality as the Death of Causality and Their Statistical Corollaries
Natural Versus Artificial Minds and the Supercomputing Era
And the Winner Is...Pages 101-107
Back Matter...Pages 109-110