Abduction, Bayesianism and Best Explanations in Physics

This article claims the validity of abductive reasoning, or inference to the best explanation, as a practice of discovery of explanatory scientific hypotheses. Along the way to achieve this objective I present here a series of arguments that question the feasibililty of Bayesianism as a theory of sc...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Rivadulla Rodríguez, Andrés
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/18591
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/18591
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Scientific Explanation
Abduction
Inference to the Best Explanation
Bayesianism
Pulsars
Gravitational Waves
Explicación Científica
Abducción
Inferencia de la Mejor Explicación
Bayesianismo
Púlsares
Ondas Gravitacionales
Filosofía de la Ciencia
7205 Filosofía de la Ciencia
Descripción
Sumario:This article claims the validity of abductive reasoning, or inference to the best explanation, as a practice of discovery of explanatory scientific hypotheses. Along the way to achieve this objective I present here a series of arguments that question the feasibililty of Bayesianism as a theory of scientific confirmation. Having solved this issue, I resort to an episode of contemporary astrocosmology that I interpret as an eloquent example of the effectiveness of abductive methodology in contemporary theoretical physics.