Inference to the Best Explanation (International Library of Philosophy)

How do we go about weighing evidence, testing hypotheses, and making inferences? According to the model of Inference to the Best Explanation , we work out what to infer from the evidence by thinking about what would actually explain that evidence, and we take the ability of a hypothesis to explain the evidence as a sign that the hypothesis is correct. In Inference to the Best Explanation , Peter Lipton gives this important and influential idea the development and assessment it deserves. The second edition has been substantially enlarged and reworked, with a new chapter on the relationship between explanation and Bayesianism, and an extension and defence of the account of contrastive explanation. It also includes an expanded defence of the claims that our inferences really are guided by diverse explanatory considerations, and that this pattern of inference can take us towards the truth. This edition of Inference to the Best Explanation has also been updated throughout and includes a new bibliography. "How do we go about weighing evidence, testing hypotheses and making inferences? According to the model of 'inference to the Best explanation', we work out what to infer from the evidence by thinking about what would actually explain that evidence, and we take the ability of a hypothesis to explain the evidence as a sign that the hypothesis is correct. In inference to the Best Explanation, Peter Lipton gives this important and influential idea the development and assessment it deserves." "The second edition has been substantially enlarged and reworked, with a new chapter on the relationship between explanation and Bayesianism, and an extension and defence of the account of contractive explanation. It also includes an expanded defence of the claims that our inferences really are guided by diverse explanatory considerations, and that this pattern of inference can take us towards the truth. This edition of Inference to the Best Explanation has also been updated throughout and includes a new bibliography."--Jacket Preface to the Second Edition......Page 2 Preface to the First Edition......Page 4 Introduction......Page 6 1. Induction......Page 10 2. Explanation......Page 26 3. The Causal Model......Page 35 4. Inference to the Best Explanation......Page 60 5. Contrastive Inference......Page 76 6. The Raven Paradox......Page 96 7. Bayesian Abduction......Page 108 8. Explanation as a Guide to Inference......Page 126 9. Loveliness and Truth......Page 147 10. Prediction and Prejudice......Page 169 11. Truth and Explanation......Page 189 Conclusion......Page 212 Bibliography......Page 216 Index......Page 221 This publication is an unrivalled exposition of a theory of particular interest to students both of epistemology and the philosophy of science