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On the Seriousness of Mistakes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Isaac Levi
Isaac Levi*
Affiliation:
Western Reserve University
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Abstract

Several authors have recently contended that modern statistical theory provides a powerful argument in favor of the view that if scientists accept or reject hypotheses at all they do so only in a behavioral sense—i.e., in a sense which reduces “accepting P” to “acting on the basis of P relative to an objective O”. In this paper, the argument from statistics in favor of a behavioral view is outlined; an interpretation of two statistical procedures (Bayes method and signifigance testing) is offered which does not entail a behavioral analysis of “accepting a hypothesis”; and the conclusion that non-behavioral analyses of belief are compatible with the application of current statistical theory in the sciences is tentatively advanced.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , January 1962 , pp. 47 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1962

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Footnotes

∗∗

Acknowledgements are due to Professors Ernest Nagel and Sidney Morgenbesser and to Mr. John McLellan for their helpful comment, and encouragement.

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