The Stoics had a place for the plausible (pithanon) and the reasonable (eulogon), but their use of these words made little of their probabilistic aspects. They are reported as offering these definitions: “A plausible (pithanon) judgement is one that induces to assent, for example, ‘Whoever gave birth to anything, is that thing’s mother.’ This, however, is not necessarily true, since the hen is not mother of the egg. . . . A reasonable (eulogon) proposition is one that has many things in its favour, for example, ‘I shall be alive tomorrow.’”5 But these ideas are not expanded. The Stoics’
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