num_pages: 284
description: In this important new study Ian Hacking continues the enquiry into the origins and development of certain characteristic modes of contemporary thought undertaken in such previous works as his best selling Emergence of Probability. Professor Hacking shows how by the late nineteenth century it became possible to think of statistical patterns as explanatory in themselves, and to regard the world as not necessarily deterministic in character. Combining detailed scientific historical research with characteristic philosophic breath and verve, The Taming of Chance brings out the relations among philosophy, the physical sciences, mathematics and the development of social institutions, and provides a unique and authoritative analysis of the "probabilization" of the Western world.
language: English
title: The Taming Of Chance
titlecomplete: The Taming Of Chance (Ideas in Context)
genres: Sociology, History, Science, Theory, Politics, Philosophy, Mathematics, History Of Science, Academic, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 226
series: Ideas in Context
publisher: Cambridge University Press