Christian and Humanist Foundations for Statistical Inference

The Philosophy of the Law Idea (PLI) analyzes the manner in which religious beliefs control scientific theorizing. Religious beliefs control philosophical overviews of reality. Overviews of reality, also called ontologies, try to discover and disclose the essential nature of reality. They are concerned with what kinds of things exist and with the connections between the various types of properties and laws in human experience. Among such overviews are the biblically consistent overview provided by the PLI and certain humanist "mathematicist" and "subjectivist" overviews. The science of statistical inference seeks to evaluate the credibility of scientific hypotheses given empirical data. This essay reviews various popular paradigms, or systems of theories, concerning the ways that credibility may be evaluated, and identifies some ways that these religiously controlled overviews of reality have, in turn, controlled statistical paradigms. In particular, one paradigm harmonizes with the PLI's overview; another, with the subjectivist overview; and two others, with the mathematicist overview.

Andrew M. Hartley is Associate Statistical Science Director for PPD Inc., a global contract research organization serving the pharmaceutical industry.