Bayesian rationality : the probabilistic approach to human reasoning / Mike Oaksford, Nick Chater.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Oaksford, M. (Mike)

Contributor:

Chater, Nick.

Series:

Oxford cognitive science series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reasoning (Psychology).

Practical reason.

Physical Description:

x, 330 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2007.

Summary:

This book provides a radical and controversial reappraisal of conventional wisdom in the psychology of reasoning, proposing that the Western conception of the mind as a logical system is flawed at the very outset. It argues that cognition should be understood in terms of probability theory, the calculus of uncertain reasoning, rather than in terms of logic, the calculus of certain reasoning.

Contents:

1 Logic and the Western concept of mind 1

2 Rationality and rational analysis 19

3 Reasoning in the real world: how much deduction is there? 41

4 The probabilistic turn 67

5 Does the exception prove the rule? How people reason with conditionals 99

6 Being economical with the evidence: collecting data and testing hypotheses 167

7 An uncertain quantity: how people reason with syllogisms 213

8 The rational analysis of mind: a dialogue 263.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [293]-322) and index.

ISBN:

0198524501

9780198524502

0198524498

9780198524496

OCLC:

77520743