On the anatomy of
probabilism. In: Kraye J and Saarinen R, eds.
That means that all she can formally justify is the norm of
probabilism (i.e., the injunction to have a credence function that is a probability function), but not the norm of chance (i.e., the injunction to have a credence function that tracks chance in the epistemically proper way).
The choice between
probabilism and fuzziness is important.
Nor is this merely a limited case-study; Grendler's excellent grasp of context allows us to grasp how the Jesuits at Mantua struggled to reconcile their curriculum with contemporary debates about Aristotelianism, moral
probabilism, and the very nature of pedagogy, as well as how the tempestuous politics of the time affected almost every aspect of life for the Gonzaga and their subjects alike.
Some moral theologians, citing the fact that theologians in the past supposed that ensoulment occurs at the 40-day mark or later, argue a window of opportunity exists during which a pregnancy can be terminated without being an "abortion." Curran claims that such "speculative doubt" can allow an early-stage abortion, a strategy from the manual tradition known as "
probabilism;"
His topic is the Jesuit espousal of
Probabilism. O'Malley once characterized that phenomenon as "an extraordinarily important shift in approach to conscience and moral questions [that is] known to us better through Pascal's scorn than through serious study" (The First Jesuits, 145).
"Risk regulation," traditionally conceived, "addresses the risk of harm that technology creates for individuals and the environment." (1) In this light, environmental statutes like the Clean Air Act ("CAA"), Clean Water Act ("CWA"), and Toxic Substances Control Act ("TSCA") are the legal extensions of
probabilism and the "rational" pursuit of public health and safety--with conservation statutes like the Endangered Species Act ("ESA") following right behind them.
For the many Catholics who disagreed with the Jesuit theological doctrine of
probabilism, such political manuevering by the state put them on the defensive as somehow less than orthodox Catholics.
Meanwhile, Darwin's antiphysicalism contributes to a shift from the clockwork model of the Newtonian universe to a view of science based on a "
probabilism" that recognizes temporal change, emergence, and stochastic processes (a newly available understanding of nature as open and dynamic that informs Omri Moses's interpretation, in this issue, of habit in Gertrude Stein's work).
Four of the essays focus on
probabilism; three others expound various alternatives.