THEORIA
REVISTA DE TEORÍA, HISTORIA Y FUNDAMENTOS DE LA CIENCIA

An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science

Editor: Andoni Ibarra

Euskal Herriko Unibertsitateko Argitalpen Zerbitzua/Servicio Editorial de la Universidad del País Vasco.

Vol. 22/3 - Nº 60 - 2007 (Septiembre/September) - pp. 257-388

SUMARIO ANALÍTICO / SUMMARY

FORUM
on Atocha ALISEDA's Abductive Reasoning

Atocha ALISEDA (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), "Abductive Reasoning: Challenges Ahead", Theoria, 2007, Vol. 22/3, N° 60, 261-270.
The purpose of this piece is to provide a critical analysis on some key aspects of abduction, as conceived by several researchers through my book Abductive Reasoning. These contributions raise fundamental questions concerning the conjectural character of abduction, its psychological status, its logical and computatíonal structure as well as its role as inference to the best explanation and as a process of epistemic change.
Keywords: abduction, abductive inference, discovery, heuristics.

Johan VAN BENTHEM (University of Amsterdam), "Abduction at the interface of Logic and Philosophy of Science", Theoria, 2007, Vol. 22/3, N° 60, 271-273.
Despite their growing separation over the years, logic and philosophy of science should still be allies pursuing an agenda of rational agency ranging from specific mechanisms like abduction to the broader study of reasoning, belief revisión, learning, and intelligent interaction.
Keywords: logic, philosophy of science, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, abduction, dynamics, interaction.

Lorenzo MAGNANI (University of Pavia), "Logic and Abduction: Cognitive Externalizations in Demonstrative Environments", Theoria, 2007, Vol. 22/3, N° 60, 275-284.
In her book Abductive Reasoning Atocha Aliseda (2006) stresses the attention to the logical models of abduction, centering on the semantic tableaux as a method for extending and improving both the whole cognitive/philosophical view on it and on other more restricted logical approaches. I will describe the importance of increasing logical knowledge on abduction also taking advantage of some ideas coming from the so-called distributed cognition where logical models are seen as forms of cognitive externalizations of preexistent in-formal human reasoning performances.
Keywords: logic, abduction, distributed cognition.

Ángel NEPOMUCENO-FERNÁNDEZ (Universidad de Sevilla), Fernando SOLER-TOSCANO (Universidad de Sevilla), "Metamodeling abduction" Tbeoria 2007 Vol 22/3, N° 60, 285-293.
A general trend is to consider abduction as a backward deducción with some additional conditions, but there can be more than one kind of deduction. By adopting Makinson's method to define deductive consequence relations, abduction is settled as a reverse one corresponding to each one of such deductive relations.
Keywords: abduction, explicative relations, pivotal consequences, structural rules.

Joke MEHEUS and Dagmar PROVIJN (Ghent University, Belgium), "Abduction through semantic tableaux versus abduction through goal-directed proofs", Theoria, 2007, Vol. 22/3, N° 60, 295-304.
In this paper, we present the outline for a goal-directed proof procedure for abductive reasoning and compare this procedure with Aliseda's approach
Keywords: abduction, semantic tableaux, goal-directed proof procedures.

John WOODS (University of British Columbia and King's College London), "Ignorance and Semantic Tableaux: Aliseda on Abduction", Theoria, 2007, Vol. 22/3, N° 60,305-318.
This is an examination of similarities and differences between Atocha Aliseda's semantic tableaux analysis of abduction and Dov Gabbay's and the present author's ignorance-preservation model of it. Also discussed is the suitability of these models for the analysis of the logical structure of legal reasoning.
Keywords: abduction, explanation, ignorance-problem, ignorance-preservation, legal reasoning, semantic tableaux.

Silvio PINTO (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana de Iztapalapa), "Dos aspectos del razonamiento abductivo" (Two aspects of abductive reasoning), Theoria, 2007, Vol. 22/3, N° 60, 319-324.
Discuto dos aspectos del reciente libro de Atocha Aliseda sobre el razonamiento abductivo. El primero tiene que ver con la clasificación de la abducción propuesta por Aliseda respecto al tipo de lógica que le subyace. El segundo se refiere al mecanismo de búsqueda de hipótesis abductivas que nos ofrece Aliseda.
Descriptores: abducción, razonamiento, lógica, inducción, árboles semánticos.

Ilkka NIINILUOTO (University of Helsinki, Finland), "Structural Rules for Abduction", Theoria, 2007, Vol. 22/3, N° 60, 325-329.
Atocha Aliseda gives in Abductive Reasoning (2006) a structural characterization of the forward explanatory reasoning from a theory to observational data. This paper dis-cusses the converse problem of giving structural rules for the backward abductive reasoning from observations to explanatory theories.
Keywords: abduction, deduction, explanation, induction, non-monotonic logic, structural rules.

Xavier DE DONATO RODRÍGUEZ (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana de Iztapalapa), "Idealization, Abduction, and Progressive Scientific Change", Theoria, 2007, Vol. 22/3, N° 60, 331-338.
After a brief comparison of Aliseda's account with different approaches to abductive reasoning, I try to relate abduction, understood in terms like those of Aliseda, to another concept which also occupies a very important role in scientific change: idealization. In particular, I try to reveal some interesting aspects related to notions like approximation and empirical progress.
Keywords: abduction, non-monotonic reasoning, idealization, approximation, Kepler-Newton case, empirical progress, scientific change.

Valeriano IRANZO (Universitat de València), "Abduction and Inference to the Best Explanation", Theoria, 2007, Vol. 22/3, N° 60, 339-346.
The paper deals with the relation between abduction and inference to the best explanation (IBE). A heuristic and a normative interpretation of IBE are distinguished. Besides, two different normative interpretations —those vindicated by I. Niiniluoto and S. Psillos— are discussed. I conclude that, in principle, Aliseda's theory of abduction fits better with a heuristic account of IBE.
Keywords: abduction, inference to the best explanation, reliabilism, confirmation, explanatory value.

Ana Rosa PÉREZ RANSANZ (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), "¿ Qué queda de la distinción entre contexto de descubrimiento y contexto de justificación?" (What remains of the discovery-justification distinction?), Theoria, 2007, Vol. 22/3, N° 60, 347-350.
Se destacan dos sentidos distintos de 'descubrimiento' en The Logic of Scientific Discovery (Popper 1959), con miras a reforzar la interpretación poco ortodoxa que hace Aliseda (2006) de la posición de Popper frente a la lógica del descubrimiento. A partir de dicha interpretación, Aliseda rastrea ciertos acuerdos básicos entre los modelos de Popper y H. Simon (1973), los cuales permiten mostrar el carácter artificial de la dicotomía descubrimiento-justificación.
Descriptores: abducción, contextos de investigación, descubrimiento, lógica del descubrimiento, dicotomía descubrimiento-justificación.

ARTÍCULOS / ARTICLES

Roberto TORRETTI (Universidad de Puerto Rico), "Getting rid of the Ether. Could Physics have achieved it sooner, with better assistance from Philosophy?", Theoria, 2007, Vol. 22/3, N° 60, 353-364.
The history of the luminiferous ether is sketched with a view to ascertaining what factors may have kept this idea alive until 1905, when Einstein declared it superfluous.
Keywords: ether, lines of forcé, Maxwell-Lorentz electrodynamics, special relativity.