Uncertainty

From Probability to Fiction and Religion

丛编：

著者：
Yair Neuman
In a scientifically oriented world, our understanding of uncertainty is almost exclusively mediated by probabilistic ideas, whether naïvely understood or theoretically grounded. However, there is one context where the scientific idea of probability is notable by its absence: our experience of uncertainty as individuals from a first-person perspective, from within. Here, fiction as “the science of the particular” may help by exposing the phenomenology of uncertainty. In this book, Prof. Neuman studies experiences of uncertainty as reflected and expressed in fiction. Although a common saying is that God does not play dice (with the universe), it will be shown that God's presence and absence both repeatedly accompany the experience of uncertainty. This book, critical and interdisciplinary, is imbued with irony and humor, and contains profound reflections that will give the reader a fresh perspective on the feelings we experience when facing the abyss of ignorance.
Copyright Year:
2026
电子书 (PDF)
状态:
Publiziert
Publisher ISBN:
978-90-04-75955-8
Publication date:
30 Mar 2026
精装本
状态:
Publiziert
Publisher ISBN:
978-90-04-75954-1
Publication date:
30 Apr 2026
Cover Uncertainty

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Yair Neuman, Ph.D. (1968), is a full Professor at the Department of the Arts, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. He has published numerous papers in top-tier journals spanning the sciences, psychoanalysis, and semiotics. He is the author of 14 books, including Conceptual Mathematics and Literature (Brill, 2020).
Endorsement
Preface

1 It Ain’t Necessarily So: on Uncertainty and Epistemic Games
 1 Who Caused the Storm?
 2 Resolving Uncertainty by Casting Lots
 3 Uncertainty, Madonna, and Justice
 4 Uncertainty Without Mathematics
 5 The Devil and the Dice
 6 Uncertainty, Truth, and God
 7 How Primitive Is the Sailors’ Solution?
 8 Anthropomorphism and Uncertainty
 9 Probability and Epistemic Leaps
 10 Foundations, Abstractions, and Leaps
 11 Bring Out the Binomial Calculator!
 12 Uncertainty and the Danger of Innocent Blood
 13 The Psychology Professor and the Game of Chance
 14 Discussion: It Ain’t Necessarily So

2 Fiction, Where the Exception is the Rule
 1 The Science of the Particular
 2 Can We Bridge the Gap between the General and the Particular?
 3 Between Love and Pornography
 4 “We Live, As We Dream – Alone”
 5 We Have an Inevitable Blind Spot
 6 Through the Loophole
 7 The Order of Numbers Versus the Order of Meaning
 8 There Is No Alibi in Existence
 9 Walking on Thin Ice
 10 Discussion: from Probability Theory to the Science of the Particular

3 The (Human) Devil Plays Dice
 1 Men’s Best Friend Is Also the Devil’s Best Friend
 2 Uncertainty and Possibility
 3 Water to a Dying Man
 4 “What’s the Most You Ever Saw Lost on a Coin Toss?”
 5 Dreadful Figures and the Incredible
 6 Faust and the Lordly Freedom of Chance
 7 There Is No Alibi Even for the Devil
 8 God, Uncertainty, and the Exercise of Freedom
 9 Discussion: Playing Chess with Death

4 “Good Odds in a Universe of Random Chance”
 1 Randomness and the Dystopia of Justice
 2 The Bed of Sodom and the Individual
 3 Correction through Chance
 4 The Random Assassin
 5 Fighting Fire with Fire
 6 Heisenberg’s Random Particle and the Synthetic Assassin
 7 Uncertainty and Identity
 8 Rebelling against the Machine
 9 Discussion: Utopia and the Abuse of Uncertainty
 5 Boredom, Uncertainty, and Clichés in The Dice Man
 1 Randomness and Decadent Freedom
 2 Casanova and the Science of Love
 3 A Puppet on the Strings of Dice
 4 Sodom and Freedom
 5 Attacking the Self
 6 Except for the Fear of Heaven
 7 Discussion: Like a Rolling Stone

6 Don’t Mess with Mr. In-Between
 1 It’s Not Safe Out There
 2 Through the Hall of Mirrors
 3 Clues in a Loophole
 4 Who Needs the Detective?
 5 Am I Right, or Am I Right?
 6 God and the Turd
 7 Discussion: “into Each Life a Little Rain Must Fall”

7 Cats Know Everything
 1 Uncertainty and Taboo
 2 Reality and the Workings of the Heart
 3 “You Have to Be There to Get It”
 4 The Devil Does Not Play Dice
 5 Discussion: We Know Everything

8 God’s Hidden Face
 1 When the Characters Have No Names
 2 The Penguin, and the Horror of the Uncanny
 3 When God’s Face is Hidden
 4 The Penguin and Chaos
 5 Stories of Courage and Justice
 6 Discussion: the Courage to Face Uncertainty

9 Fiction, Experiential Comprehension, and Uncertainty
 1 On the Experience of Uncertainty
 2 On Experiential Comprehension
 3 Rebbi and the Calf
Author’s Index
Subject Index
Academics and graduate students in science, literature or religion.
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出版社:
Brill
Language:
英语
Extent:
xiv, 176 pp.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004759558

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