Answer to Question #180605 in Statistics and Probability for Agust D

Question

Reflect on the quotation below. Write in a brief paragraph.

"All knowledge degenerates into probability" - David Hume

Answer 1

 1.By this means all knowledge degenerates into probability ; and this probability is greater or less, according to our experience of the veracity or deceitfulness of our understanding, and according to the simplicity or intricacy of the question.

2 It is important to be clear on the logical structure of this argument. Consider an actual case of inference. This produces a state of belief or affirmation. Hume does not say that the inference does not produce truth, i.e. , a true belief. But there is the possibility it does not. Nor is this a mere logical possibility.

3. One can form the hypothesis about causes that this process of reasoning was in fact one which introduced an 91. element of error. One does not know that this hypothesis is true. But one does know that there is a certain probability that this causal hypothesis is true; as Hume puts it, it may frequently be true.