Leibniz’s Dual Concept of Probability

Leibniz uses the concept of probability in both epistemic and non-epistemic contexts, as do many of his contemporaries. Some commentators have claimed that this dual-use is inexact or confused. In this paper, I describe Leibniz’s understanding of the concept of probability and discuss its dual usage...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Binyamin Eisner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Aperio 2022-12-01
Series:Journal of Modern Philosophy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://jmphil.org/article/id/1958/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832575964510420992
author Binyamin Eisner
author_facet Binyamin Eisner
author_sort Binyamin Eisner
collection DOAJ
description Leibniz uses the concept of probability in both epistemic and non-epistemic contexts, as do many of his contemporaries. Some commentators have claimed that this dual-use is inexact or confused. In this paper, I describe Leibniz’s understanding of the concept of probability and discuss its dual usage in his work. Then, building on Leibniz’s creation theory, in conjunction with Russell’s interpretation of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, I endeavor to justify this dual usage and to show that this justification is also valuable for the contemporary discussion of the concept of probability.
format Article
id doaj-art-9c2803eb4ebe467d8b5e3510a8ae5ff2
institution Kabale University
issn 2644-0652
language English
publishDate 2022-12-01
publisher Aperio
record_format Article
series Journal of Modern Philosophy
spelling doaj-art-9c2803eb4ebe467d8b5e3510a8ae5ff22025-01-31T16:08:22ZengAperioJournal of Modern Philosophy2644-06522022-12-014010.25894/jmp.1958Leibniz’s Dual Concept of ProbabilityBinyamin Eisner0 Leibniz uses the concept of probability in both epistemic and non-epistemic contexts, as do many of his contemporaries. Some commentators have claimed that this dual-use is inexact or confused. In this paper, I describe Leibniz’s understanding of the concept of probability and discuss its dual usage in his work. Then, building on Leibniz’s creation theory, in conjunction with Russell’s interpretation of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, I endeavor to justify this dual usage and to show that this justification is also valuable for the contemporary discussion of the concept of probability.https://jmphil.org/article/id/1958/degree of possibilityLeibnizmetaphysicsprobabilityprinciple of indifferenceprinciple of sufficient reason
spellingShingle Binyamin Eisner
Leibniz’s Dual Concept of Probability
Journal of Modern Philosophy
degree of possibility
Leibniz
metaphysics
probability
principle of indifference
principle of sufficient reason
title Leibniz’s Dual Concept of Probability
title_full Leibniz’s Dual Concept of Probability
title_fullStr Leibniz’s Dual Concept of Probability
title_full_unstemmed Leibniz’s Dual Concept of Probability
title_short Leibniz’s Dual Concept of Probability
title_sort leibniz s dual concept of probability
topic degree of possibility
Leibniz
metaphysics
probability
principle of indifference
principle of sufficient reason
url https://jmphil.org/article/id/1958/
work_keys_str_mv AT binyamineisner leibnizsdualconceptofprobability