The Debate on Probable Opinions in the Scholastic Tradition.

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 Innovations in the Early Modern Era -- 2 Plurality and Pluralism -- 3 Modern Approaches to the 'Use of Opinions': Social Epistemology, Testimony, and Others -- 4 Sources, Genres, and Interpretations -- 5 Chapter Preview -- Chapter 1 Medieval Antecedents -- 1 Medieval Scholastic Attitudes to the Variety of Opinions -- 2 Knowledge, Faith/Conviction ( fides), and Opinion in the Middle Ages -- 3 Probability as Standard for the Acceptability of Opinions -- 3.1 The Endoxon and Probable Opinion -- 3.2 Both-Sided Probability and Greater or Smaller Probability -- 3.3 Endoxical Probability and Authority -- 4 'Medieval Tutiorism' -- 5 A Medieval Pluralism of Opinions -- 6 Conclusion -- Chapter 2 The Road to Probabilism-A New Doctrine on theUse of Opinions -- 1 From the Late Fifteenth to the Late Sixteenth Century -- 1.1 Trends on Use of Opinions in Early Modern Scholastic Thought -- 1.2 Other Trends with a Possible Impact on Probability and the Use of Opinions -- 1.3 Melchor Cano (1509-1560) -- 2 Probabilism -- 2.1 Is Probabilism Irrational or Inconsistent? -- 2.2 Uses of Probabilism -- 2.3 Epistemological and Moral Justifications of Probabilism -- 3 Discussion and Conclusion -- Chapter 3 Probabilism and Anti-Probabilism-Interlocked Lifecycles -- 1 1577-1620: The Rise of Probabilism -- 2 1620-1656: Probabilism as Dominant Mainstream -- 2.1 The 1640s: First Stirrings of Opposition to Probabilism and Response of Probabilists -- 2.2 'Laxism' and Its Critics -- 2.3 On the Widening of the Scholastic Pluralism of Opinions -- 3 1656-1700: Probabilism Under Fire. The Rise of Anti-Probabilism. Probabilism's Defenses. The Epistemological Debate Unfolds -- 3.1 Anti-Probabilism: Key Claims -- 3.2 Probabilists Respond: 1656-1678 -- 3.3 Probabilism 1656-1678: Sympathy for Modern Science and a Focuson Epistemology.

3.4 1670-1700: 'Civil War' among the Jesuits -- Chapter 4 The New Dual Concept of Probability and the Demise of the Endoxon -- 1 The New Dual Concept of Probability -- 2 Maryks' Claim of the Jesuit Origins of Dual Probability -- 3 Ciceronian Influences? -- 4 The Heyday of the (Unrefined) Dual Concept of Probability -- 5 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Probability -- 6 Leaving Aristotle without Saying Goodbye -- 7 Conclusion -- Chapter 5 Selection Criteria, Common Opinion, and Ordinary Persons -- 1 Selection Criteria for Authors and Opinions -- 1.1 The 'Checklists' of Konrad Summenhart (c. 1450-1502) and Martín de Azpilcueta (1493-1586) -- 1.2 Juan Azor's (1535-1603) List of Scholastic Classics -- 2 Sets of Criteria from the Seventeenth Century -- 3 Common Opinion -- 4 Ordinary Persons and Non-Experts (Illiterati, Idiotae) -- 4.1 Women -- 5 Conclusion -- Chapter 6 Stand-Alone Authority and Majorities as Guideto Truth -- 1 Aquinas on Following One's Teacher -- 2 Stand-Alone Authority in Probabilism -- 3 Anti-Probabilism: Opponents of Stand-Alone Authority -- 4 Numerical Thresholds of Extrinsic Probability -- 5 The Early Modern Philosophical Avant-Garde on Stand-Alone Authority -- 6 Epistemic Majoritarianism: Scholastic and Modern -- 6.1 Digression: Epistemic Democracy -- 7 Conclusion -- Chapter 7 Ancient and Modern Opinions-Which to Prefer? -- 1 Antiqui and Moderni in Scholastic Thought -- 2 Probabilism as Vector of Modernization -- 3 Caramuel and the Moderns -- 4 Anti-Probabilist Backlash -- 5 The querelle des anciens et des modernes: Parallels and Influence -- 6 Conclusion -- Chapter 8 The Great Debate on Probable Opinions (1656-1700) -- 1 New Conceptions of Probable Opinion and Probability -- 2 Kinds of Probability -- 2.1 Speculative and Practical Probability -- 2.2 Probability in Itself (quoad se) and for Us (quoad nos).

Subjective and Objective Probability -- 2.3 Probability and Probabilism: Direct or Indirect/Reflexive -- 3 Key Assumptions of Anti-Probabilism -- 3.1 Bianchi, Mercori, Fagnani (and Some Non-scholastics) -- 3.2 Miguel de Elizalde (1617-1678) -- 3.3 Tirso Gonzalez de Santalla (1624-1705) -- 4 Conclusion -- Chapter 9 Delimiting the Space of the Reasonable-The Challenge of Probable Probability and Slight Probability -- 1 The Debate on Slight and Probable Probability -- 2 An Argument of Infinite Regress -- 3 The Spectre of Skepticism -- 4 Caramuel and Probable Probability -- 5 Conclusion -- Chapter 10 Believing What We Want-A New Doxastic Voluntarism -- 1 Scholastic Doxastic Voluntarism before the Seventeenth Century -- 1.1 Digression: The Modern Debate on Doxastic Voluntarism -- 2 Probabilist Doxastic Voluntarism after Bianchi -- 3 Mature Probabilist Doxastic Voluntarism: Anthony Terill's Approach -- 3.1 Question 8: Assent to Equally Probable Propositions -- 3.2 Question 9: Assent to a Less Probable Opinion -- 3.3 Question 10: The Reasonableness of Assent to a Less Probable Opinion -- 4 Terill Further Considered -- 5 Conclusion -- Chapter 11 Assessing Probabilism-Between Libertyand Tutelage -- 1 Modern Views on Probabilism: Liberty, Tutelage, Extrinsicism -- 2 The Perspective of Normative Theory -- 2.1 Probabilism as a Liberty-Favoring Doctrine -- 2.2 The Duties of a Confessor: Absolution against His Own Moral Views -- 2.3 Extrinsicism -- 3 The Perspective of Practice and the Historical Perspective -- 3.1 Obedience to Orders and to Authorities -- 3.2 The Spectre of the Counter-Reformation -- 3.3 Probabilism and the Language of Liberty -- 4 Conclusion -- Chapter 12 The Scholastic Background of Modern Probability -- 1 Gambling Problems and Interpretations of Probability -- 1.1 The Art of Gambling and the 'Problem of Points'.

1.2 Modern Interpretations of Probability -- 2 Caramuel's Contribution -- 3 A New Scholastic Frequentism -- 4 Scholastics on Aleatory Contracts and Expected Value -- 5 Other Developments -- 6 Why Did a Mathematical Theory of Probability Emerge in the Middle of the Seventeenth Century? -- References -- Index.

A portrait of scholastic approaches to a qualified disagreement of opinions, focusing on the antagonism of scholastic probabilism and anti-probabilism in the early modern era.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.