Dubbiezze e controversie: II dibattito su logica e probabilitá in Italia nei primi anni del Novecento

Abstract

The years between the two World Wars seem to have been a "golden age" in research on the foundations of probability in Italy. By analyzing publications dating from 1900 to 1915, the present article uncovers an interest in the foundational problems of probability, a conviction that logic would play a role in resolving these problems, and varying conceptions of logic, all of which predate and serve as an historical foundation for this "golden age."

Francesco Paolo Cantelli

“…289–297), and the discussion in Benzi (1988) and Regazzini (1998). Benzi (1995) also speaks of an early attempt at axiomatization using Lebesgue's measure theory by another Italian, Ugo Broggi (1880–1965) in a Göttingen dissertation of 1907.…”

“…Cantelli's international standing led to an invitation to teach a course at the prestigious Institute Poincaré in Paris in 1933. As one of the leading experts on the foundations of probability he did not hesitate to engage in vigorous debates on controversial aspects of this subject with other internationally recognized experts, such as Richard von Mises; see Benzi (1988, 1995) and Regazzini (1998). From an epistemological standpoint, Cantelli clarified his position on the foundations of probability in the course of a debate with von Mises, which appeared on the pages of his Giornale in 1936.…”