Was Bayes a Bayesian?
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Was Bayes a Bayesian?
zbMATH Open document ID: 0634.01009
DOI: 10.1016/0315-0860(87)90065-6
author: Donald Gillies
published in: Historia Mathematica
publication date: 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
review text: The paper analyzes \textit{Th. Bayes}' essay [Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 53, 370--418 (1763; Zbl 1250.60007)], together with the additions by Richard Price, in relation to (1) historical influences and (2) the Bayesianism of the 20th century. As regards (1), historical evidence is presented linking Price with Hume, and it is argued that Price's additions are likely to have been written as an attempt to solve Hume's problem of induction. As regards (2), it is shown that Bayes' billiard table example is so constructed as to avoid the objections to Bayesianism made, in our own time, by R. A. Fisher and J. Neyman. Bayes did, however, introduce controversial Bayesian assumptions in his scholium, and was therefore a Bayesian - though a cautious Bayesian.
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A50
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 60-03
zbMATH DE Number: 4031605
zbMATH Keywords: Bayesianism
zbMATH Keywords: Price
zbMATH Keywords: Hume
zbMATH Keywords: R. A. Fisher
zbMATH Keywords: J. Neyman
reviewed by: Rainer Beedgen
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: 0315-0860(87)90065-6
OpenAlex ID: W2031649565
cites work: Q5613167
cites work: Q5613168
cites work: Q5799632
cites work: Bayes or Laplace? An examination of the origin and early applications of Bayes' theorem
cites work: Q3877626
cites work: Q4147397
cites work: Q3232636
cites work: Q5343900
cites work: Q4068666
cites work: Q5732970
cites work: On the Problem of Confidence Intervals
cites work: Outline of a Theory of Statistical Estimation Based on the Classical Theory of Probability
cites work: Q5815911
cites work: Q3880793
cites work: Bayes's two arguments for the rule of conditioning
cites work: Thomas Bayes's Bayesian Inference
cites work: Who Discovered Bayes's Theorem?
Recommended article: When did Bayesian inference become ``Bayesian''?
Recommended article: R.A. Fisher: A True Bayesian?
Recommended article: Why Isn't Everyone a Bayesian?
Recommended article: Frequentist, Bayes, or Other?
Recommended article: What is Bayesian statistics?
Recommended article: Bayesian confirmation or ordinary confirmation?
Recommended article: Where do Bayesian priors come from?
Recommended article: Bayes and empirical Bayes: do they merge?
Recommended article: Who Discovered Bayes's Theorem?
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 4031605