The present work is a continuation of the authors' acclaimed
multi-volume A
Practical Logic of Cognitive Systems. After having investigated the
notion of
relevance in their previous volume, Gabbay and Woods now turn to
abduction. In
this highly original approach, abduction is construed as
ignorance-preserving
inference, in which conjecture plays a pivotal role. Abduction is a
response to a
cognitive target that cannot be hit on the basis of what the agent
currently knows.
The abducer selects a hypothesis which were it true would enable
the reasoner to attain his target. He concludes from this fact that
the hypothesis may be conjectured. In allowing conjecture to stand
in for the knowledge he fails to have, the abducer reveals himself
to be a satisficer, since an abductive solution is not a solution
from knowledge. Key to the authors' analysis is the requirement
that a conjectured proposition is not just what a reasoner might
allow himself to assume, but a proposition he must defeasibly
release as a premiss for further inferences in the domain of
enquiry in which the original abduction problem has arisen.
The coverage of the book is extensive, from the philosophy of
science to
computer science and AI, from diagnostics to the law, from
historical explanation to linguistic interpretation. One of the
volume's strongest contributions is its exploration of the
abductive character of criminal trials, with special attention
given to the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Underlying their analysis of abductive reasoning is the authors'
conception of
practical agency. In this approach, practical agency is dominantly
a matter of the
comparativemodesty of an agent's cognitive agendas, together with
comparatively scant resources available for their advancement. Seen
in these ways, abduction has a significantly practical character,
precisely because it is a form of inference that satisfices rather
than maximizes its response to the agent's cognitive target.
The Reach of Abduction will be necessary reading for researchers,
graduate
students and senior undergraduates in logic, computer science, AI,
belief dynamics, argumentation theory, cognitive psychology and
neuroscience, linguistics, forensic science, legal reasoning and
related areas.
Key features:
- Reach of Abduction is fully integrated with a background logic of
cognitive systems.
- The most extensive coverage compared to competitive works.
- Demonstrates not only that abduction is a form of ignorance
preserving
inference but that it is a mode of inference that is wholly
rational.
- Demonstrates the satisficing rather than maximizing character
of
abduction.
- The development of formal models of abduction is considerably
more extensive than one finds in existing literature. It is an
especially impressive amalgam of sophisticated
conceptual analysis and extensive logical modelling.
- Reach of Abduction is fully integrated with a background logic of
cognitive systems.
- The most extensive coverage compared to competitive works
- Demonstrates not only that abduction is a form of ignorance
preserving
inference but that it is a mode of inference that is wholly
rational.
- Demonstrates the satisficing rather than maximizing character
of
abduction.
- The development of formal models of abduction isconsiderably more
extensive than one finds in existing literature. It is an
especially impressive amalgam of sophisticated
conceptual analysis and extensive logical modelling.
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