Justifying inference to the best explanation as a practical meta-syllogism on dialectical structures

Synthese 190 (16):3553-3578 (2013)
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Abstract

This article discusses how inference to the best explanation can be justified as a practical meta - argument. It is, firstly, justified as a practical argument insofar as accepting the best explanation as true can be shown to further a specific aim. And because this aim is a discursive one which proponents can rationally pursue in — and relative to — a complex controversy, namely maximising the robustness of one’s position, IBE can be conceived, secondly, as a meta - argument. My analysis thus bears a certain analogy to Sellars ’ well - known justification of inductive reasoning ; it is based on recently developed theories of complex argumentation.

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Gregor Betz
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Citations of this work

Analoge Argumente und Analogieargumente.David Löwenstein - 2015 - In Anna Wehofsits, David Löwenstein, Dirk Koppelberg & Gregor Betz (eds.), Weiter Denken - Über Philosophie, Wissenschaft Und Religion. De Gruyter. pp. 105-124.
The eco-cognitive model of abduction II.Lorenzo Magnani - 2016 - Journal of Applied Logic 15:94-129.
Truth in Evidence and Truth in Arguments without Logical Omniscience.Gregor Betz - 2016 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 67 (4):1117-1137.

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References found in this work

Laws and symmetry.Bas C. Van Fraassen - 1989 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Inference to the Best Explanation.Peter Lipton - 1991 - London and New York: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.
Scientific reasoning: the Bayesian approach.Peter Urbach & Colin Howson - 1993 - Chicago: Open Court. Edited by Peter Urbach.
Inference to the Best Explanation.Peter Lipton - 1991 - London and New York: Routledge.

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