Jon, List, Thanks for the additional Peirce quotations. I'll be mulling over them (all of which I'm familiar with) for some time, but now in the light of your comments.
I don't know whether or not "we're any closer to being on the same page regarding abduction," but since, as Peirce notes, abduction is the only way we can hope to make any real progress in science (in knowledge), I think our efforts to clarify the nature of abduction are well worth our expending considerable time and energy on. I have meant to suggest in my last post that abduction plays as important a role in artistic creation as it does in hypothesis formation. Science, as important as it is, is not the be all and end all of our lives--Peirce makes this very clear, for example, in the first lecture of the 1898 lecture series. There is as well art and poesis (and even more profoundly humanistic things, such as his beautiful example of a mother's love in that lecture). And Peirce strongly suggests that poetry fully realized *is* religion. I concur. Can one at the same time be a scientist, a philosopher, a logician, a humanist, and be religious in a non-dogmatic, non-doctrinaire sense? I think Peirce would say, "Yes, for I am that!" So, my hope is that our inquiry into abduction will include the arts, humanities, and religion as well as logic and science. Perhaps the greatest gift I've received from my study of Peirce is his reinforcing in me a sense of a kind of cosmic religious sensibility, something I had a very strong sense of long before I was introduced to his philosophy, but which has helped 'evolve' in me the meaning--albeit tragic meaning--of our lives together. I suppose this is to say that, as I see it, Peirce has much more to offer us than 'mere' logic; or, rather, that logic and the social instinct are so entertwined that we would be wise to improve our logic if we hope to improve our lives together. Best, Gary R [image: Gary Richmond] *Gary Richmond* *Philosophy and Critical Thinking* *Communication Studies* *LaGuardia College of the City University of New York* *C 745* *718 482-5690* On Mon, May 9, 2016 at 11:15 PM, Jon Alan Schmidt <[email protected]> wrote: > Gary R., List: > > I understand your point about the Rule coming first in deduction, and > while I am still not 100% convinced that this is truly *necessary*, I am > content to let it pass and focus on abduction. If I have pushed you hard > on the latter, then Jerry R. also deserves credit for repeatedly calling > attention to CP 5.189. > > GR: For the bean example, as Peirce originaly offered it, I begin my >> experiment at the rule, knowing that *that* bag of beans is entirely >> white, and seeing a handful of beans near it which share a character, >> white, I suppose it *possible* that in this world of bean storage in >> which I find myself (perhaps in a warehouse surrounded by many bags >> containing beans of possibly several colors), that *these* beans are >> from this bag because I found them near it. >> > > I almost commented on this before--you keep saying that the reason why we > infer that these beans are from that bag is "because [we] found them near > it," but there is nothing in CP 2.623 to suggest this at all. On the > contrary, Peirce states, "On the table there is a handful of white beans; > and, after some searching, I find one of the bags contains white beans > only. I at once infer as a probability, or as a fair guess, that this > handful was taken out of that bag." The hypothesis has nothing to do with > *where* the handful of white beans is found, but rather is based only on > their being of the same *color *as all of the ones in that particular bag. > > Notice also that we find the handful of white beans *before* we find > ("after some searching") the bag that contains only white beans; i.e., we > have the Result first, and then go *looking *for the Rule. This is > interesting, because it suggests that rather than *knowing* the Rule > beforehand, we *suspect* that there is a Rule of some kind that would > explain the Result; we (evidently) *anticipate *that there will be a bag > with only white beans. However, we do not merely sample that bag and infer > (inductively) that all of its beans are white; we (apparently) inspect the > *entire > *contents of the bag, such that we *know* that all of its beans are > white, and only *then *hypothesize that the handful came from it. > > This is probably stretching the bean example beyond its breaking point, > but it hints at your second type of abduction, as well as the notion of > treating the inference as a unified whole. It still clearly begins with a > surprising fact, rather than a Rule; but perhaps the categorial emphasis > should be on *surprising* (1ns), rather than on *fact* (2ns). I also > want to note that CP 5.189 is not the only place where Peirce uses this > terminology for the Result; he also does so in "A Neglected Argument for > the Reality of God"--a carefully written article, not a "mere" lecture. > > CSP: Every inquiry whatsoever takes its rise in the observation, in one > or another of the three Universes, of some surprising phenomenon, some > experience which either disappoints an expectation, or breaks in upon some > habit of expectation of the *inquisiturus *... The inquiry begins with > pondering these phenomena in all their aspects, in the search of some point > of view whence the wonder shall be resolved. At length a conjecture arises > that furnishes a possible Explanation, by which I mean a syllogism > exhibiting the surprising fact as necessarily consequent upon the > circumstances of its occurrence together with the truth of the credible > conjecture, as premisses. On account of this Explanation, the inquirer is > led to regard his conjecture, or hypothesis, with favour. (EP 2.440-441) > > > Here Peirce seems to be saying that the observed fact is surprising > because it does not conform to an *established *Rule. It is obviously > not all or just any of "the circumstances of its occurrence" that combine > with "the credible conjecture" to make the surprising fact "a matter of > course"; the inquirer has to discern something *relevant *about the > situation in order to construct the explanatory syllogism. We see a > handful of white beans in a room full of bags, and posit that one of the > bags might contain only white beans, perhaps because that would be > consistent with our previous observations under similar conditions. This > is what I would call an exercise of judgment cultivated through experience. > > Here are a few more passages that I came across ... > > Now a retroductive conclusion is only justified by its *explaining* an > observed fact. An explanation is a syllogism of which the major premiss, > or rule, is a known law or rule of nature, or other general truth; the > minor premiss, or case, is the hypothesis or retroductive conclusion, and > the conclusion, or result, is the observed (or otherwise established) fact. > (CP 1.89) > > > But the stimulus to guessing, the hint of the conjecture, was derived from > experience. The order of the march of suggestion in retroduction is from > experience to hypothesis. (CP 2.755) > > > *Presumption*, or, more precisely, *abduction* … furnishes the reasoner > with the problematic theory which induction verifies. Upon finding himself > confronted with a phenomenon unlike what he would have expected under the > circumstances, he looks over its features and notices some remarkable > character or relation among them, which he at once recognizes as being > characteristic of some conception with which his mind is already stored, so > that a theory is suggested which would explain (that is, render necessary) > that which is surprising in the phenomena. (CP 2.776) > > > Does this get us any closer to being on the same page regarding abduction? > > Thanks, > > Jon Alan Schmidt - Olathe, Kansas, USA > Professional Engineer, Amateur Philosopher, Lutheran Layman > www.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt > <http://www.linkedin.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt> - twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt >
----------------------------- 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 .
