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.

Syntax and semantics of a monotonic framework for non-monotonic reasoning

Abstract: We present the proof theory and the model theory of a montonic framework for default reasoning, and we extend logic programming techniques to this framework. Standard formalizations of default reasoning do not syntactically separate between hard knowledge and conjectural knowledge. Such a separation is fundamental in our framework. To illustrate our approach, we show how it solves the Yale Shooting problem.

Critical and Interpretive Ethnography Theory: A Reflexive Case Study

Abstract: This paper presents a vignette focusing on the link between interpretive theory and critical theory employing a reflexive case study on the business career and networking activities of a global marketeer.The study (conducted over a period of five years) had the stated objective of "How do I improve my professional practice? and employed the reflective spiral of analysis which is emblematic of the action research methodology. This paper focuses on one aspect of this research only and aims to share the methods of inquiry and the processes we took to achieve the objectives. It is hoped that we can usefully share best practice and provide some ways to improve the approach based on our personal research experience of using such this case study methodology. This paper discusses how different research approaches provide fundamentally different ways of looking at a case, and also demonstrates how theory can provide useful yet markedly different interpretations of organizational events. Critical theory and interpretive theory operate from within what can be termed the transitive epistemological dimension, and tend to emphasise the importance of reflective ontological issues. It also investigates the role of creativity and the use of tacit knowledge using empirical observation and abductive reasoning that can result in inspirational thought that drives the discovery of patterns new to existing human knowledge. Tacit knowledge has important things to say concerning a situation and this leads to improvements in our understanding of events. Conclusions drawn are only from a single case study perspective and do not reflect wider stakeholder perspective. The approach described is that of a single case study based on a research philosophy of Critical Theory, with an objective ontology and subjective epistemology.The vignette provided gives a view of 21st century work practices and influences. The analysis of the Brand Map and the 5 Cs provides an insight within this case study of areas of strength and weakness. Applying corrective actions can thus improve professional practice. However, it would also appear that the value of tacit knowledge may be more significant than either paper qualifications or past experience per se.

Use of Explanation Trees to Describe the State Space of a Probabilistic-Based Abduction Problem

Abstract: This chapter presents a new approach to the problem of obtaining the most probable explanations given a set of observations in a Bayesian network. The method provides a set of possibilities ranked by their probabilities. The main novelties are that the level of detail of each one of the explanations is not uniform (with the idea of being as simple as possible in each case), the explanations are mutually exclusive, and the number of required explanations is not fixed (it depends on the particular case we are solving). Our goals are achieved by means of the construction of the so called explanation tree which can have asymmetric branching and that will determine the different possibilities. This chapter describes the procedure for its computation based on information theory criteria and shows its behaviour in some examples.