John,
To me, we are talking about whether Feyerabend or Peirce can offer a definite suggestion on how to proceed if we are frozen with respect to advancing on a problem. To say there’s no systematic way to proceed is antithetical to Peirce, who offers abduction, a very definite formalism that asks you to be explicit about three things, the icon (C), index (A) and symbol (B) and to consider them in relation according to CP 5.189. Yes, there are a number of things to consider in order to assess the goodness of an explanation, some criteria that you list in the last part of your post. But these things are not really assessable by talking strictly in abstraction. The possibilities are simply too numerous. But why not take genuine doubt about a real-world phenomenon in a real-world situation to test your assertions about quality, index, interpretation, practice, effectiveness, goodness, space and time, testing of explanation...? There is such a phenomenon in phi spiral abduction. It is an abductive inference about a regularity that comes in perceptual judgment. There were others with different collateral experience who saw the phenomenon but did not see the same icon. I proposed an alternative index, one that implicates optimal stromal collagen organization. It is a definite prediction. It is testable, etc.… Is it a good explanation? I think so because eros, that is, it is suggestive of "effective surprise". Reasons for eros are many. These reasons go beyond materials and corneal science; justifications that flow into philosophy and education. I trust that good ideas take care of themselves and that there is a good chance for consilience here because if not this, which? Are such justifications allowable for assessing an explanation? What does Newton have to say on the matter? Who decides if I disagree with his silence? Importantly, what if it turns out my idea is true; that it does what I say it does. Is that reason enough to agree that there is a systematic approach to creativity and that it is complete in CP 5.189? Best, Jerry Rhee On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 10:53 AM, John Collier <[email protected]> wrote: > Jerry, > > That is certainly the main issue that needs to be resolved in full. The > phenomena to be explained have to be identified by the abductive inference. > This would be the index part of the proposition. The qualitative part has > to be able to allow this identification. Together they must permit an > interpretation that we have a way to use in pactice. I would say that it is > the effectiveness of the last that determines how good the abduction is. I > suspect that the answer involves considering a number of factors. > > For example, Newtonian space and time are one way to explain the bucket > thought experiment. But even in Newton's own time it was observed (e.g. > by Leibniz) that the explanation couldn't be tested (it failed the > pragmatic maxim). Mach made the problem even more clear. It was not a good > explanation on those grounds, though it was good enough for Newton and for > most physicists up to Einstein. > > John > > > > Sent from my Samsung device > > > -------- Original message -------- > From: Jerry LR Chandler <[email protected]> > Date: 2016/03/10 00:07 (GMT+02:00) > To: Peirce List <[email protected]> > Cc: Clark Goble <[email protected]>, John Collier <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Re: Abduction, Deduction, Induction : Analogy, > Inquiry > > John, Clark, List: > > > On Mar 9, 2016, at 1:59 AM, John Collier <[email protected]> wrote: > > List, > > Another point that is often overlooked in discussions of inference to the > best explanation, which I agree is not the same as abduction, though I > think abduction is more restrictive than just inference to any hypothesis > from which the evidence might be inferred, is that the best explanation > need not be a good explanation, so we need more than inference to the best > explanation to carry out inquiry responsibly. > > > The simple question arises: > If an abductive step is taken by the inquirer, then what? > > For example, say that a sinsign and its legisigns and qualisigns provide > the informative extension to generate an index, how does one take this > abductive object and move through the inferential steps needed to generate > a valid argument? > > Or, from a different logical perspective, what information is needed to > extend (in the Aristotelian sense of intensional logic) the index to the > (telelogical?) goal of the inquirer? > > Cheers > > Jerry > > > > > > > > > *From:* Clark Goble [mailto:[email protected] <[email protected]>] > *Sent:* Friday, 04 March 2016 12:35 AM > *To:* Peirce List > *Subject:* Re: [PEIRCE-L] Re: Abduction, Deduction, Induction : Analogy, > Inquiry > > > > On Mar 3, 2016, at 3:25 PM, Jon Awbrey <[email protected]> wrote: > > Let me just say again that abduction is not “inference to the best > explanation”. > That gloss derives from a later attempt to rationalize Peirce's idea and > it has > led to a whole literature of misconception. Abduction is more like > “inference > to any explanation” — or maybe adapting Kant's phrase, “conceiving a > concept > that reduces a manifold to a unity”. The most difficult part of its labor > is delivering a term, very often new or unnoticed, that can serve as > a middle term in grasping the structure of an object domain. > > > I fully agree and many of his quotations make clear it’s not inference to > the best explanation. However we should admit that in some places he sure > seems to get close to that idea. Even if it doesn’t appear to be workable. > I’d argue that even when he appears to be talking about best explanation > he’s much more after the fact our guesses are so often quite good. > (Although I’d have to go through all the quotes to be sure that’s fair to > the texts) > > > > ----------------------------- > PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON > PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to > [email protected] . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L > but to [email protected] with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the > BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm > . > > > > > ----------------------------- > PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON > PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to > [email protected] . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L > but to [email protected] with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the > BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm > . > > > > > >
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