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Simply the Best: A Case for Abduction

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Computational Logic: Logic Programming and Beyond

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 2408))

Abstract

This paper formulates what I think is the basic problem of any attempt to characterise the abstract structure of scientific method, viz., that it has to satisfy two conflicting desiderata: it should be ampliative (content-increasing) and it should confer epistemic warrant on its outcomes. Then, after two extreme solutions to the problem of the method, viz., Enumerative Induction and the Method of Hypothesis, are examined, the paper argues that abduction, suitably understood as Inference to the Best Explanation, offers the best description of scientific method and solves the foregoing problem in the best way: it strikes the best balance between ampliation and epistemic warrant.

This essay is dedicated to Bob Kowalski tor his very generous help and the long time we spent in London discussing about philosophy of science and Artificial Intelligence. His inquisitive mind and sharp criticism made me think harder about the philosophical problems of abduction. Many thanks are due to two anonymous readers for this volume and John Norton for useful comments. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the NORDPLUS Intensive Programme on Inference to the Best Explanation in Iceland. Comments made by Jan Faye, Olav Gjelsvik, Mikael Karlsson and Bengt Hansson were particularly useful.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy and History of Science, University of Athens, 37 John Kennedy Str., 16121, Athens, Greece

    Stathis Psillos

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  1. Stathis Psillos
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Cyprus, 75 Kallipoleos St., 1678, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Antonis C. Kakas

  2. Department of Computing, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, 180 Queen’s Gate, London, SW7 2BZ, UK

    Fariba Sadri

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Psillos, S. (2002). Simply the Best: A Case for Abduction. In: Kakas, A.C., Sadri, F. (eds) Computational Logic: Logic Programming and Beyond. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2408. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45632-5_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45632-5_24

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-43960-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45632-2

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