Abductive reasoning

About: Abductive reasoning is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1917 publications have been published within this topic receiving 44645 citations. The topic is also known as: abduction & abductive inference.

On the Contrastive Nature of Weather Modification Knowledge: Commonsense Reasoning and Commonsense Knowledge

Abstract: Weather Modification specialists constantly face a difficult problem in their operation and research tasks. The explanation of events on the basis of data is neither completely deductive nor completely inductive. The reason is clear since it is very difficult to isolate the weather objects from their environment and their complex interactions; therefore any attempt of methodological isolation tends to destroy vital elements of their dynamics. Here I present a discussion about the role abductive inference plays in applied weather modification knowledge due to its contrastive nature, and how these general considerations are applied in Texas.

The argument from design

Abstract: I want to examine the argument for the existence of God, which Immanuel Kant called, "the oldest, the clearest, and the most accordant with the common reason of mankind" 1 _ the argument from design. My plan is to examine the argument cast in three different basic possible forms of inference. I shall cast it in the form of a deductive inference, an inductive inference, and following the terminology of Charles S. Peirce, an abductive inference. I shall not be so much concerned with the validity, soundness or strength of the argument as with t h e logical moves in this classical argument. This type of analysis will, I hope, make these logical moves clear, or at least clearer. Let us begin with a deductive form of the argument from design.

Abductive functional programming, a semantic approach.

Abstract: We propose a call-by-value lambda calculus extended with a new construct inspired by abductive inference and motivated by the programming idioms of machine learning. Although syntactically simple the abductive construct has a complex and subtle operational semantics which we express using a style based on the Geometry of Interaction. We show that the calculus is sound, in the sense that well typed programs terminate normally. We also give a visual implementation of the semantics which relies on additional garbage collection rules, which we also prove sound.

A Logical Model of Peirce’s Abduction as Suggested by Various Theories Concerning Unknown Entities

Abstract: In this paper I will interpret two ways in which Pierce tried to define abduction. The first is Pierce’s attempt to find a form of syllogism that would represent abduction. In his last attempts to suggest a syllogism, I show that its conclusion is equivalent to a doubly negated predicate. Since Pierce then considers its corresponding positive predicate, this kind of change of the predicate is called the Pierce principle, which is similar, but weaker than Markov’s. The second way is to provide definitions of abduction as a process of construction of an entire theory rather than as the construction of a single law. These definitions are compared with the model of organization of a scientific theory that my previous works recognized through a comparative analysis of many important scientific theories whose aim is to discover a solution of a fundamental problem, how investigate an unknown or ill-defined entity. Each of these theories proceeds by means of reasoning whose conclusion is a doubly negated predicate, which is then changed by the author into the corresponding affirmative predicate, which in turn takes on the role of a hypothesis from which all possible consequences are deduced and then verified experimentally. I will show that this change in the predicate is regulated by the principle of sufficient reason, which is stronger than Peirce’s principle. In conclusion, Peirce’s attempts to define abduction proved to be intuitive, but imprecise, illustrations of the process of construction of a theory belonging to a particular class of scientific theories making use of non-classical logic.