Abduction, Reason and Science

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

   PDF

2. Hypothesis Generation

   • Lorenzo Magnani

   Pages 1-14

3. Theoretical Abduction

   • Lorenzo Magnani

   Pages 15-52

4. Manipulative Abduction

   • Lorenzo Magnani

   Pages 53-69

5. Diagnostic Reasoning

   • Lorenzo Magnani

   Pages 71-95

6. Visual and Temporal Abduction

   • Lorenzo Magnani

   Pages 97-124

7. Governing Inconsistencies

   • Lorenzo Magnani

   Pages 125-144

8. Hypothesis Withdrawal in Science

   • Lorenzo Magnani

   Pages 145-169

9. Back Matter

   Pages 171-205

   PDF

This volume explores abduction (inference to explanatory hypotheses), an important but neglected topic in scientific reasoning. My aim is to inte­ grate philosophical, cognitive, and computational issues, while also discuss­ ing some cases of reasoning in science and medicine. The main thesis is that abduction is a significant kind of scientific reasoning, helpful in delineating the first principles of a new theory of science. The status of abduction is very controversial. When dealing with abduc­ tive reasoning misinterpretations and equivocations are common. What are the differences between abduction and induction? What are the differences between abduction and the well-known hypothetico-deductive method? What did Peirce mean when he considered abduction a kind of inference? Does abduction involve only the generation of hypotheses or their evaluation too? Are the criteria for the best explanation in abductive reasoning epis­ temic, or pragmatic, or both? How many kinds of abduction are there? The book aims to increase knowledge about creative and expert infer­ ences. The study of these high-level methods of abductive reasoning is situ­ ated at the crossroads of philosophy, epistemology, artificial intel1igence, cognitive psychology, and logic; that is, at the heart of cognitive science. Philosophers of science in the twentieth century have traditionally distin­ guished between the inferential processes active in the logic of discovery and the ones active in logic of justification.

• Charles Sanders Peirce
• artificial intelligence
• cognitive science
• intelligence
• logic
• mind
• probability
• science

• University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

  Lorenzo Magnani

• Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA

  Lorenzo Magnani

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