Ramsey's Legacy (Mind Association Occasional) [Hardcover]

Hallvard Lillehammer (Editor), D. H. Mellor (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0199279551 | ISBN-13: 978-0199279555

The Cambridge philosopher Frank Ramsey died tragically in 1930 at the age of 26, but had already established himself as one of the most brilliant minds of the twentieth century. Besides groundbreaking work in philosophy, particularly in logic, language, and metaphysics, he created modern decision theory and made substantial contributions to mathematics and economics. In these original essays, written to commemorate the centenary of Ramsey's birth, a distinguished international team of contributors offer fresh perspectives on his work and show its ongoing relevance to present-day concerns.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Each of the papers is an important contribution to its field. Jim Mackenzie, Zentralblatt

About the Author

Hallvard Lillehammer is at University of Cambridge. D. H. Mellor is at University of Cambridge.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199279551
• ISBN-13: 978-0199279555
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,446,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Subjective decision theory tells us very little, April 11, 2006

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Michael Emmett Brady "mandmbrady" (Bellflower, California ,United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ramsey's Legacy (Mind Association Occasional) (Hardcover)

This collection of essays recognizes the great variety and wide ranging scope in Ramsey's thought and published work.It commemorates Ramsey's birth in 1903.The essays ,in general,cover Ramsey's contributions while at the same time connecting him to other famous philosophers and thinkers like Keynes,Russell,and Wittgenstein.Unfortunately,the entire book is marred by the failure of any of the authors to correct the error filled assessments made by Ramsey,in 1922 in a book review in The Cambridge Magazine and in 1926 ,in the essay titled "Truth and Probability",of J M Keynes's path breaking work of 1921,A Treatise on Probability.Mellor's contribution,like every other contribution made by him to this particular subject,completely ignores the fact that Ramsey's assessment of Keynes's work is mainly based on Ramsey's misinterpretation of Keynes's use of the term "nonnumerical" in chapter 3 of Keynes's book to mean using no numbers in the measurement and estimation of probabilities.Keynes's entire approach to measurement was clearly presented in chapters 15 and 17 of the TP after the introduction in chapter 3.Ramsey never read these chapters.Neither did Mellor or any other economist,philosopher,or psychologist in the 20th century .The other problem with Mellor's essay is that it fails to recognize the very limited range of application of Ramsey's approach.A necessary condition for the application of Ramsey's approach is that all estimates of probability be unique,precise,single number answers so that the addition and multiplication laws can be applied.Keynes's systematic approach incorporates Ramsey's approach as a special case of his far more general theory of probability that also includes interval estimates and rank orderings,as well as numerical probabilities in some cases.Mellor,like Ramsey,equates probability with mathematical probability alone.Such an approach can be applied only in those areas of physical and life science,like genetics and heredity,where the information set is complete,homogeneous, and fixed over time.