The Foundations of Statistics Reconsidered

This is an expository paper on the evolution of opinion about the foundations of statistics. It particularly emphasizes the paths that some of us have followed to a position that may be called Bayesian or neo-Bayesian. The intense modern growth of statistical theory of which this Symposium is a manifestation has been strongly oriented by a certain view as to the meaning of probability. I shall try to explain why another view seems now to be entering upon the scene almost of its own accord and to suggest what practical implications it brings with it.

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