Abstract
Following C. S. Peirce, abduction is often interpreted as a first phase of inquiry where a hypothesis is formulated requiring testing. I maintain, however, that a natural scientific ideal of testing is not the most suitable model for studies on human practices. Practical experimentation follows a different kind of a logic, and Peirce’s formulations need to be developed further. I interpret abduction in relation to the Deweyan idea of a working hypothesis, and the method of ascending from the abstract to the concrete. Practical abduction is about enriching the working hypothesis instead of “testing” it in a strict sense. In studies on human practices abduction continues throughout the research process.
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Notes
- 1.
Reijo Miettinen (a personal conversation) suggested this meaning for the term “working hypothesis”. An implementation of it requires developmental work by practitioners themselves.
- 2.
Leontjev ([18], 101) is here citing Hegel saying that the individual “cannot determine the goal of his acting as long as he has not acted …”
- 3.
I want to thank Liubov Vetoshkina, Jaakko Virkkunen, and especially Reijo Miettinen for giving many invaluable comments and suggestions to this paper that definitely made the article better. All misinterpretations and omissions are my own.
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Paavola, S. (2021). Practical Abduction for Research on Human Practices: Enriching Rather Than Testing a Hypothesis. In: Shook, J.R., Paavola, S. (eds) Abduction in Cognition and Action. Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics, vol 59. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61773-8_2
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