A study of the role of abductive inference in everyday argumentation and legal evidence Examines three areas in which abductive reasoning is especially important: medicine, science, and law. The reader is introduced to abduction and shown how it has evolved historically into the framework of conventional wisdom in logic. Discussions draw upon recent techniques used in artificial intelligence, particularly in the areas of multi-agent systems and plan recognition, to develop a dialogue model of explanation. Cases of causal explanations in law are analyzed using abductive reasoning, and all the components are finally brought together to build a new account of abductive reasoning.
By clarifying the notion of abduction as a common and significant type of reasoning in everyday argumentation, Abductive Reasoning will be useful to scholars and students in many fields, including argumentation, computing and artificial intelligence, psychology and cognitive science, law, philosophy, linguistics, and speech communication and rhetoric.
AcknowledgmentsIntroductionAbductive, Presumptive, and Plausible ArgumentsAbductive InferencePeirce on the Three Types of ReasoningPeirce on the Form of Abductive InferenceScientific Discovery and Artificial IntelligenceAbductive Inference in Legal EvidenceDefeasible, Plausible, and Presumptive ReasoningTentative DefinitionsArgumentation SchemesAraucaria as a Tool for Argument DiagrammingA Dialogue Model of ExplanationTypes of ExplanationModels of Scientific ExplanationSimulation, Understanding, and Making SenseScripts, Anchored Narratives, and ImplicaturesThe Dialogue Model of ExplanationThe Speech Act of ExplanationDialogue Models of Scientific Argumentation and ExplanationExamination Dialogue and Shared UnderstandingDialectical Shifts and EmbeddingsA Procedural Model of RationalityComputational DialecticsReasoning as Chaining of InferencesForward and Backward Chaining Rule-Based Systems in Artificial IntelligenceThe Problem of EnthymemesMultiagent Practical ReasoningBounded RationalityDefeasible Modus Ponens ArgumentsA Typical Case of Abductive Reasoning in Evidence LawArgumentation from ConsequencesDefeasible Inferences and Modus PonensConditionals and GeneralizationsAbductive Inference in Medical DiagnosisIntroducing Defeasible Modus PonensUsing Defeasible Modus Ponens as an Argumentation SchemeAbductive Causal ReasoningNecessary and Sufficient ConditionsForms of Causal ArgumentationArgument from Correlation to CauseAbductive Causal Reasoning in LawCausal Abduction in Medical Examination and DiagnosisCausal Reasoning as Dynamic Improvement of a HypothesisThe Thesis That Causal Reasoning Is AbductiveCausal ExplanationsThe Chain of Reasoning in the Accident CaseInsights into Causal Argumentation Yielded by the Abductive TheoryQuery-Driven Abductive ReasoningArgument Extrapolation by Chaining ForwardColligation in Chaining BackwardThe Form of Abductive Inference RevisitedBelief-Desire-Intention and Commitment ModelsThe Abductive Profile of DialogueAbduction as a Query-Driven ProcessDiscovery as an Open ProcessRetraction of CommitmentThe Four Phases of Abductive ReasoningUnsolved Problems of AbductionAbduction and Argumentation SchemesEnthymemes, Argumentation Schemes, and the Defeasible Modus Ponens Form of ReasoningThe Role of Examination in ScienceAccounts and ExplanationsThe Problem of InconsistencyHow Abductive Reasoning Moves Forward by Examining Competing AccountsQuestion-Answering and Critiquing Systems in Artificial IntelligenceSummary of Abduction as a HeuristicNotesReferencesIndex
Douglas Walton has published 33 books including Legal Argumentation and Evidence, One Sided Arguments: A Dialectical Analysis of Bias, Ad Hominem Arguments, Argumentation Schemes for Presumptive Reasoning, and A Pragmatic Theory of Fallacy.
“Abductive Reasoning makes a significant and original contribution. It is interdisciplinary in the right way: the drawing together of fields is demanded by the nature of the problem and issues, not by ideology or administrative decree.” —Jonathan E. Adler, author of Belief's Own Ethics
“Walton’s book is a good account of abductive reasoning, especially in the field of witness testimony, or argument from expert opinion.” —Artificial Intelligence and Law
