Abstract

We examine in this article the singular way in which Émile Borel, from his studies on the structure of real numbers and a certain rejection of Cantor’s abstract vision, found in the calculus of probabilities an adequate tool to formulate a new approach to problems. At the same time, he became aware of its usefulness for the approach to the phenomena of physics and society. He developed a singular approach to the problem of interpretation of the concept of probability, merging subjectivist and objectivist aspects under an idiosyncratic formulation of the so-called Cournot principle.