Cf: Peirce’s 1870 “Logic of Relatives” • Comment 11.22
https://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2014/06/04/peirces-1870-logic-of-relatives-c…
Peirce’s 1870 “Logic of Relatives” • Comment 11.22
https://oeis.org/wiki/Peirce%27s_1870_Logic_Of_Relatives_%E2%80%A2_Part_2#C…
All,
Let’s look at that last example from a different angle.
NOF 4.3
=======
<QUOTE CSP:>
So if men are just as apt to be black as things in general,
• [m,][b] = [m,b],
where the difference between [m] and [m,] must not be overlooked.
(Peirce, CP 3.76)
https://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2014/04/29/peirces-1870-logic-of-relatives-s…
</QUOTE>
Viewed in various lights the formula [m,b] = [m,][b] presents itself
as an aimed arrow, fair sampling, or stochastic independence condition.
Peirce’s example assumes a universe of things in general encompassing the
denotations of the absolute terms m = man and b = black. That allows us
to illustrate the case in relief, by returning to our earlier staging of
Othello and examining the premiss that “men are just as apt to be black
as things in general” within the frame of that that empirical if fictional
universe of discourse.
We have the following data.
• b = O
• m = C +, I +, J +, O
• *1* = B +, C +, D +, E +, I +, J +, O
• b, = O:O
• m, = C:C +, I:I +, J:J +, O:O
• *1*, = B:B +, C:C +, D:D +, E:E +, I:I +, J:J +, O:O
The “fair sampling condition” amounts to saying men are just as likely
to be black as things in general are likely to be black. In other words,
men are a fair sample of things in general with respect to the predicate
of being black.
On that condition the following equation holds.
• [m,b] = [m,][b].
Assuming [b] is not zero, the next equation follows.
• [m,] = [m,b]/[b].
As before, it is convenient to represent the absolute term b = black
by means of the corresponding idempotent term b, = black that is___.
Let is next consider the bigraph for the following relational product.
• m,b = man that is black.
We may represent that in the following equivalent form.
• m,b, = man that is black that is___.
Figure 53. Bigraph Product M,B,
https://inquiryintoinquiry.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/lor-1870-othello-pro…
The facts of the matter in the Othello case
are such that the following formula holds.
• m,b = b.
And that in turn is equivalent to each of the following statements.
• m ∧ b = b
• b ⇒ m
• b —< m
Those last implications puncture any notion of statistical independence
for b and m in the universe of discourse at hand but it will repay us to
explore the details of the case a little further. Putting all the general
formulas and particular facts together, we arrive at the following summation
of the situation in the Othello case.
If the fair sampling condition were true,
it would have the following consequence.
• [m,] = [m,b]/[b] = [b]/[b] = 1.
On the contrary, we have the following fact.
• [m,] = [m,*1*]/[*1*] = [m]/[*1*] = 4/7.
In sum, it is not the case in the Othello example that
“men are just as apt to be black as things in general”.
Expressed in terms of probabilities:
• P(m) = 4/7 and P(b) = 1/7.
If these were independent terms, we would have:
• P(mb) = 4/49.
In point of fact, however, we have:
• P(mb) = P(b) = 1/7.
Another way to see it is to observe that:
• P(b|m) = 1/4 while P(b) 1/7.
Regards,
Jon