---
abstract: 'This paper discusses abductive reasoning---that is, reasoning in which explanatory hypotheses are formed and evaluated. First, it criticizes two recent formal logical models of abduction. An adequate formalization would have to take into account the following aspects of abduction: explanation is not deduction; hypotheses are layered; abduction is sometimes creative; hypotheses may be revolutionary; completeness is elusive; simplicity is complex; and abductive reasoning may be visual and non-sentential. Second, in order to illustrate visual aspects of hypothesis formation, the paper describes recent work on visual inference in archaeology. Third, in connection with the evaluation of explanatory hypotheses, the paper describes recent results on the computation of coherence.'
altloc:
  - http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/Articles/Pages/%7FAbductive.html
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creators_name:
  - family: Thagard
    given: P.
    honourific: ''
    lineage: ''
  - family: Shelley
    given: C. P.
    honourific: ''
    lineage: ''
date: 1997
date_type: published
datestamp: 1998-06-06
department: ~
dir: disk0/00/00/06/71
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editors_id: []
editors_name:
  - family: Chiara
    given: M-L. Dalla
    honourific: ''
    lineage: ''
eprint_status: archive
eprintid: 671
fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/text_html.png;/671/1/FAbductive.html
full_text_status: public
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lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:54:11
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metadata_visibility: show
note: ~
number: ~
pagerange: 413-427
pubdom: FALSE
publication: Logic and Scientific Methods
publisher: 'Dordrecht: Kluwer'
refereed: FALSE
referencetext: ~
relation_type: []
relation_uri: []
reportno: ~
rev_number: 8
series: ~
source: ~
status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:32:43
subjects:
  - cog-psy
  - comp-sci-art-intel
  - phil-sci
succeeds: ~
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thesistype: ~
title: 'Abductive reasoning: Logic, visual thinking, and coherence'
type: bookchapter
userid: 149
volume: ~
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