Epistemic Uncertainty, Subjective Probability, and Ancient History.

The subjective interpretation of probability—increasingly influential in other fields—makes probability a useful tool of historical analysis. It provides a framework that can accommodate the significant epistemic uncertainty involved in estimating historical quantities, especially (but not only) reg...

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Publicado en:Journal of Interdisciplinary History Vol. 50; no. 1; pp. 91 - 112
Autor principal: Lavan, Myles
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: MIT Press Summer2019
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Epistemic Uncertainty, Subjective Probability, and Ancient History.
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        au: Lavan, Myles
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        Ancient history
        Roman Empire, 30 B.C.-A.D. 476
        Probability theory
        Historical analysis
        Subjectivity
        Distribution (Probability theory)
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          Ancient history
          Roman Empire, 30 B.C.-A.D. 476
          Probability theory
          Historical analysis
          Subjectivity
          Distribution (Probability theory)
      ab: The subjective interpretation of probability—increasingly influential in other fields—makes probability a useful tool of historical analysis. It provides a framework that can accommodate the significant epistemic uncertainty involved in estimating historical quantities, especially (but not only) regarding periods for which we have limited data. Conceptualizing uncertainty in terms of probability distributions is a useful discipline because it forces historians to consider the degree of uncertainty as well as to identify a most-likely value. It becomes even more useful when multiple uncertain quantities are combined in a single analysis, a common occurrence in ancient history. Though it may appear a radical departure from current practice, it builds upon a probabilism that is already latent in historical reasoning. Most estimates of quantities in ancient history are implicit expressions of probability distributions, insofar as they represent the value judged to be most likely, given the available evidence. But the traditional point-estimate approach leaves historians' beliefs about the likelihood of other possible values unclear or unexamined.
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    language: English
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