Truth-Seeking by Abduction (eBook)

Ilkka Niiniluoto is Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Helsinki. After his Ph.D. on inductive logic in 1974, his main work has been on truthlikeness, scientific progress and critical scientific realism.

Preface 6
Contents 8
Chapter 1: Peirce on Abduction 10
1.1 Classification of Inferences 11
1.2 Probabilistic Reasoning 14
1.3 Abduction Reconsidered 17
1.4 Interpretations of Abduction 21
1.5 Some Debates About Abduction 24
Chapter 2: Analysis and Synthesis 28
2.1 The Regressive Method 29
2.2 Pappus on Geometrical Analysis 31
2.3 Analysis and Abduction 35
2.4 Poe´s Stories of Ratiocination 37
2.5 Poe´s Philosophy of Composition 41
Chapter 3: Abduction and Logic 44
3.1 Abduction as a Rule of Inference 44
3.2 Structural Rules for Abduction 49
3.3 Abduction by Semantic Tableaux 52
3.4 The GW Model of Abduction 55
3.5 Hintikka´s Interrogative Model of Inquiry 57
Chapter 4: Inverse Problems 60
4.1 On Retroduction 61
4.2 Inverse Problems in Systems Theory 64
4.3 Radon´s Theorem and Computerized Tomography 67
4.4 Abduction and Biological Evolution 71
4.5 Evolutionism in the Humanities 75
4.6 Conclusions 78
Chapter 5: Abduction as Discovery and Pursuit 80
5.1 Patterns of Heuristic Reasoning 81
5.2 Abduction as Discovery 85
5.3 Abduction as Pursuit 89
Chapter 6: Abduction and Confirmation 95
6.1 Inductive and Abductive Confirmation 96
6.2 Bayesian Confirmation 101
6.3 Explanatory Power and Confirmation 105
6.4 The Virtues of Unification 109
Chapter 7: Inference to the Best Explanation 116
7.1 IBE as a Rule of Acceptance 116
7.2 Replies to Criticism 125
Chapter 8: Abduction and Truthlikeness 129
8.1 Approximate Explanation 130
8.2 Verisimilitude and Legisimilitude 133
8.3 Abduction with Truthlikeness 139
8.4 From Empirical Success to Truthlikeness 144
8.5 Abductive Belief Revision 151
Chapter 9: Abduction and Scientific Realism 156
9.1 Debates on Scientific Realism 157
9.2 The No Miracle Argument 161
Bibliography 169
Index 182