Why do we admire Sherlock Holmes. Reflections on his reasoning method (Canadian Holmes 39 [3], 2016).pdf (original) (raw)
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This paper argues that Umberto Eco had a sophisticated theory of abductive reasoning and that this theory is fundamentally akin to Peirce’s both in the analysis and in the justification of this kind of reasoning. The first section expounds the essentials of Peirce’s theory of abduction, and explains how Peirce moved from seeing abduction as a kind of reasoning to seeing it as a stage of the larger process of inquiry. The second section deals with one of Eco’s paradigmatic examples of abduction, i.e., William of Baskerville’s abduction concerning the horse Brunellus in the overture of The Name of the Rose, and shows that, just like in Peirce’s three-stages model of inquiry, William’s abductions are verified by means of deduction and induction. The third section examines the problem of the justification of abductive reasoning, and argues that both Peirce and Eco solved this problem through the idea that the justification of abduction is itself abductive (meta-abduction in Eco, ur-abduction in Peirce).
Comme tous les hors série de Marginalia publiés jusqu'ici, cette compilation des écrits sur Conan Doyle et Sherlock Holmes est une bibliographie de base où, je l'espère, on retrouvera l'essentiel de ce qui a été écrit sur ce que les mordus et les spécialistes appellent au mieux "le Canon" ou au pire les "Écritures saintes" (Ce que je trouve excessif...). Un très grand nombre de ces "études" sont des brochures, des pamphlets, souvent publiés à compte d'auteur et qui dans certains cas, ne comptent que quelques pages. Introuvables, ils peuplent les rêves les plus fous des collectionneurs et des maniaques. Pour des raisons évidentes de longueur, j'ai omis nombre d'écrits mineurs ou triviaux, les livres de jeux, de mots croisés, de recettes gastronomiques (à une exception près), etc... Tout comme le roman policier a ses textes dits "patristiques", le corpus sherlockien a ses textes "canoniques. , des classiques, des incontournables, des textes qui ont marqué l'histoire. Je les ai indiqués avec une note spéciale en couleur. Il existe de nombreuses bibliographies sherlockoises et sherlockiennes. Elles pullulent sur internet, mais, vérification faite, elles sont souvent fragmentées, dispersées sur de nombreux sites et, exception faite du monumental opus de De Waal (consultable en ligne, mais qui ne couvre pas non plus ces dernières années) elles sont rarement multilingues. Ce hors série double vous propose donc une biblio up to date, partiellement annotée (les textes sont des quatrièmes de couverture, des notes d'éditeur, etc) des écrits sur Conan Doyle et son célèbre détective. Cette bibliographie (publiée en deux hors série) est divisée en quatre parties: 1. Les ouvrages de référence (bibliographies, chronologies, etc), 2. Les études sur Conan Doyle (biographies, correspondance), 3. Les études sherlockiennes, et 4. Les ouvrages qui s'intéressent à Sherlock Holmes et/ou Conan Doyle dans les médias (cinéma, télévision, théâtre, radio). Sherlock Holmes 1 contient les parties 1, 2 et 3 (de A à G) et Sherlock Holmes 2, contient les parties 3 (H à Z) et 4. Cette contribution aux études sherlockiennes est dédiée à René Paul, webmestre émérite, avec remerciements.
Abductive case-based reasoning
International Journal of Intelligent Systems, 2005
This article will introduce abductive case-based reasoning (CBR) and attempt to show that abductive CBR and deductive CBR can be integrated in clinical process and problem solving. Then it provides a unified formalization for integration of abduction, abductive CBR, deduction and deductive CBR. This article also investigates abductive case retrieval and deductive case retrieval using similarity relations, fuzzy similarity relations and similarity metrics. The proposed approach demonstrates that the integration of deductive CBR and abductive CBR is of practical significance in problem solving such as system diagnosis and analysis, and will facilitate research of abductive CBR and deductive CBR.
Background: Two kinds of research logic prevail in scientific research: deductive research logic and inductive research logic. However, both of them fail when we come to evaluation, especially evaluation done in unfamiliar environments. Purpose: In this article I wish to suggest the application of a research logic— abduction—the logic of discovery—which is powerful and very effective in constructing and validating explanations of new phenomena (evaluation findings, in particular). Setting: The primary focus of the article is theoretic with a case example illustrating the practice of using the logic of discovery. Keywords: program evaluation; Globalization; multiculturalism; Abduction; Evaluation Logic
Abduction, deduction and induction 1
While quantitative methods have been widely applied by social scientists such as sociologists, psychologists, and economists, their philosophical premises and assumptions are rarely examined.
The Logical Goodness of Abduction in C.S. Peirce's Thought
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 2013
The term “abduction” has been used with different meanings since its introduction in C. S. Peirce’s writings. It has been used to refer to inference to the best explanation, hypothetical inference, inference to new explanations, and a guessing-instinct. These meanings converge to solve a central problem: how do new ideas emerge in inquiry? Different authors defend different meanings of “abduction” which, in their view, resolve this fundamental problem. This article seeks to displace the central question of abduction in order to account more coherently for its different meanings in Peirce’s thought. It is argued that abduction is not concerned with the emergence of new ideas in reasoning but instead with how ideas are made to fulfill their logical purpose. Since the logical goodness of abduction is most directly treated in Peirce’s 1903 Harvard Lectures on Pragmatism, this article first examines the link between abduction, pragmatism, and logical goodness in those lectures. This initial examination leads us to displace the central question of abduction, from “how do new ideas emerge?” to “how do ideas fulfill their logical purpose?”
Deweyan Approaches to Abduction? (2015)
Apparently, Dewey never explicitly commented on Charles S. Peirce’s notion of abduction; nor did he use the term in his own writings. Although there are clear differences in Peirce’s and Dewey’s logic and inquiry, this is still somewhat surprising. For Peirce abduction is a third main mode of reasoning, besides deduction and induction, which is about the process of forming hypotheses or suggestions. There are, in my view, interesting affinities between abduction as presented by Peirce and elements of reflective thinking presented by Dewey. [...] First, I present some main interpretations of Peircean abduction and how it has been interpreted by later thinkers. Next, I present Dewey’s conceptions of reflective thought (or pattern of inquiry), and point to some abductive elements within it. Finally, I return to the question of the continuity between Peirce’s and Dewey’s conceptions of inquiry.
Abductive case-based reasoning: Research Articles
This article introduces abductive case-based reasoning (CBR) and attempts to show that abductive CBR and deductive CBR can be integrated in clinical process and problem solving. Then it provides a unified formalization for integration of abduction, abductive CBR, deduction, and deductive CBR. This article also investigates abductive case retrieval and deductive case retrieval using similarity relations, fuzzy similarity relations, and similarity metrics. The proposed approach demonstrates that the integration of deductive CBR and abductive CBR is of practical significance in problem solving such as system diagnosis and analysis, and will facilitate research of abductive CBR and deductive CBR. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 20: 957–983, 2005.