Abductive Inference: Computation, Philosophy, Technology - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521575451 ISBN 13: 9780521575454

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1996

Synopsis

In informal terms, abductive reasoning involves inferring the best or most plausible explanation from a given set of facts or data. This volume presents new ideas about inferential and information-processing foundations for knowledge and certainty. The authors argue that knowledge arises from experience by processes of abductive inference, in contrast to the view that it arises noninferentially, or that deduction and inductive generalization are enough to account for knowledge. The book tells the story of six generations of increasingly sophisticated generic abduction machines and the discovery of reasoning strategies that make it computationally feasible to form well-justified composite explanatory hypotheses, despite the threat of combinatorial explosion. This book will be of great interest to researchers in AI, cognitive science, and philosophy of science.

About this title

Book Description

Abductive reasoning involves inferring the best or most plausible explanation from a given set of facts or data. Arguing that knowledge arises from experience by processes of abductive interence, this volume presents new ideas about inferential and information-processing foundations for knowledge and certainty.

Review

"This book breaks new ground in the scientific, philosophical, and technological study of abduction." Peirce Project Newsletter

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521575451
• ISBN 13: 9780521575454
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320
• Editor: Josephson John R., Josephson Susan G.