Abductive Inference Design

Abstract

Abductive inference is inference to the best explanation(s). The traditional definition of abduction is that it traverses deduction in the backward direction: From p → q and q, we may tentatively conclude that p. We know that fire implies smoke, we see smoke, and we conclude that there is fire. There is no deductively certain support for this, and there may be other explanations of the occurrence of smoke. Perhaps a Humvee is laying a smoke screen? Douven (Abduction, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. by A.N. Zalta, Spring 2011 Edition, 2011) gives a good introduction into abduction as a form of reasoning, and Schurz (Synthese 164:201–234, 2008) provides an interesting overview of historical uses of abduction in science, with examples.Abductive inference