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Reorienting the Logic of Abduction

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Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science

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Abstract

Abduction, still a comparatively neglected kind of premiss-conclusion reasoning, gives rise to the questions I want to consider here. One is whether abduction’s epistemic peculiarities can be accommodated happily in the mainline philosophical theories of knowledge. The other is whether abduction provides any reason to question the assumption that the goodness of drawing a conclusion from premisses depends on an underlying relation of logical consequence. My answer each time is no. I will spend most of my time on the first. Much of what I’ll say about the second is a promissory note.

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Abbreviations

CR:

causal response

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Acknowledgements

I would know a good deal less than I presently do about abduction without stimulating instruction from Dov Gabbay, Lorenzo Magnani, Atocha Aliseda, Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen, Peter Bruza, Woosuk Park, Douglas Niño and more recently – especially in relation to sections 11 and 12 – Madeleine Ransom. To all my warmest thanks. My student Frank Hong has also pitched in with astute suggestions; equal gratitude to him. For technical support and everything else that matters, Carol Woods is my go-to gal. Without whom not.

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  1. Dept. of Philosophy, Vancouver Campus, University of British Columbia, 1866 Main Mall, Buchanan E370, BC V6T 1Z1, Vancouver, Canada

    John Woods

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  1. John Woods
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Correspondence to John Woods .

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  1. Department of Humanities, University of Pavia, Piazza Botta 6, 27100, Pavia, Italy

    Lorenzo Magnani  & Tommaso Bertolotti  & 

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Woods, J. (2017). Reorienting the Logic of Abduction. In: Magnani, L., Bertolotti, T. (eds) Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30526-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30526-4_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30526-4

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