Abductive reasoning

Abductive reasoning (also called abduction, abductive inference or retroduction) is a form of logical inference which goes from an observation to a theory which accounts for the observation, ideally seeking to find the simplest and most likely explanation.

Description

In abductive reasoning, unlike in deductive reasoning, the premises do not guarantee the conclusion. One can understand abductive reasoning as "inference to the best explanation".

In the 1990s, as computing power grew, the fields of law, computer science, and artificial intelligence research spurred renewed interest in the subject of abduction.

Diagnostic expert systems frequently employ abduction.

See also

• Charles Sanders Peirce bibliography
• Defeasible reasoning
• Doug Walton
• Duck test
• Gregory Bateson
• Inductive inference
• Inductive probability
• Maximum likelihood
• Sensemaking
• Sign relation

External links

• Abductive reasoning @ Wikipedia