Background

VENN, John was born on August 4, 1834 in Hull, Yorkshire. Son of Reverend Henry Venn, Bachelor of Divinity, and Martha, daughter of Nicholas Sykes, Swanland, Yorkshire.

Education

Studied at Caius College Cambridge. Doctor of Science.

Career

Lecturer in Logic and Moral Philosophy for many years at Cambridge. Examiner, etc.; President, 1903. Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The gospel and human needs: being the Hulsean lectures delivered before the University of Cambridge, 1908-9, with additions

    (Excerpt from The Gospel and Human Needs: Being the Hulsea...)

  • Christian Reunion: The Hulsean Lectures for 1886 (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Christian Reunion: The Hulsean Lectures for ...)

  • Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College, 1349-1897: Containing a List of All Known Members of the College from the Foundation to the ... Biographical Notes, Vol. 3 (Classic Reprint)

    (This volume completes the History of the College as origi...)

  • The Gospel and Human Needs: Being the Hulsean Lectures, Delivered Before the University of Cambridge, 1908-9 With Additions (Classic Reprint)

    (Not long since a friend said to me that miracles which ha...)

  • The Way, the Truth, the Life: The Hulsean Lectures for 1871 (Cambridge Library Collection - Religion)

    (Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892) gave the Cambridge H...)

  • The gospel and human needs: being the Hulsean lectures delivered before the university of Cambridge, 1908-9

    (This book was digitized and reprinted from the collection...)

  • Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College, Vol. 4: In Continuation of Volumes I III; Admissions Since January 1, 1899; Chronicle of the College Estates (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Biographical History of Gonville and Caius C...)

  • The Gospel And Human Needs: Being The Hulsean Lectures Delivered Before The University Of Cambridge, 1908-1909 (1911)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • The atonement viewed in the light of certain modern difficulties; being the Hulsean lectures for 1883, 1884

    (This historic book may have numerous typos and missing te...)

  • The Atonement View In The Light Of Certain Modern Difficulties: Being The Hulsean Lectures For 1883, 1884...

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Christian reunion: the Hulsean lectures for 1886

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • The gospel and human needs, being the Hulsean lectures delivered before the university of Cambridge, 1908-9;

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Christian reunion the Hulsean lectures for 1886

    (Christian reunion the Hulsean lectures for 1886. This boo...)

  • Biographical history of Gonville and Caius college, 1349-1897; containing a list of all known members of the college from the foundation to the present time, with biographical notes Vol: 3 1897 [Hardcover]

    (Lang:- eng, Vol:- 3, Pages 562. Reprinted in 2015 with th...)

  • The gospel and human needs :: being the Hulsean lectures delivered before the University of Cambridge, 1908-9: with additions /

    (Originally published in 1915. This volume from the Cornel...)

  • The Gospel and Human Needs: Being the Hulsean Lectures Delivered Before the ... 1911 [Hardcover]

    (Lang:- English, Pages 216. Reprinted in 2015 with the hel...)

  • The gospel and human needs, being the Hulsean lectures delivered before the university of Cambridge, 1908-9; 1911 [Hardcover]

    (Lang:- eng, Pages 224. Reprinted in 2015 with the help of...)

  • Logic of Chance: An essay on the Foundations and Province of the theory of Probability, with Especial Reference to Its Logical Bearings and Its Application to Moral and Social science, and to Statistics. 3rd Enlarged Ed.
  • Symbolic Logic. 2nd Ed. Revised
  • Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College 1349-1897 - Containing a List of All Known Members of the College from the Foundation to the Present Time, with Biographical Notes, Vol. III, 1349-1901
  • Biographical history of Gonville and Caius College 1349-1897, vols I-III
  • Amor Dei: A Study of St. Augustine, The Hulsean Lectures for 1938
  • BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE 1349-1897 (VOL III)
  • Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College 1349-1897 - Containing a List of All Known Members of the College from the Foundation to the Present Time, with Biographical Notes, Vol. IV, in Continuation of Volumes I-III
  • Biographical History Of Gonville And Caius College Vol III
  • The gospel and human needs: Being the Hulsean lectures delivered before the university of Cambridge, 1908-9: with additions

Views

Venns’s Logic of Chance (1866) was one of the earliest sustained accounts of the frequency theory of probability, since defended by von Mises and Reichcnbach. Only the frequency theory, Venn argues, can capture that range of uses of ‘probable' for which probability is something objective and measurable. His Symbolic Logic (1881) is largely derived from Boole, although the use of diagrams to illustrate the relations between sets has since become associated with Venn's name.

The later work. Inductive Logic( 1889), is largely a critical commentary on Mill. Mill’s famous methods. Venn argues, will only be applicable where the possible causes for a given effect are finite in number, and already known, which will only rarely be the case.

This line of criticism earned Venn a reputation as a sceptic about induction.

Membership

Fellow of the Royal Society. Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Club: Royal Societies.

• Fellow of the Royal Society; Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Club: Royal Societies.

Interests

• Deductive and inductive logic. Theory of probability.

Connections

Spouse 1867, Susanna,daughter of Rev. C. W. Edinonstone.

Father:

Henry Venn

Mother:

Martha

Spouse:

Susanna