Best Explanations New Essays on Inference to the Best Explanation 1st edition by Kevin Mccain, Ted Poston 0198746903 9780198746904

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ISBN-10 :  0198746903 

ISBN-13 :  9780198746904 

Author:  Kevin Mccain, Ted Poston 

Explanatory reasoning is ubiquitous. Not only are rigorous inferences to the best explanation used pervasively in the sciences, this kind of reasoning is common in everyday life. Despite its widespread use, inference to the best explanation is still in need of precise formulation, and it remains controversial. On the one hand, supporters of explanationism take inference to the best explanation to be a justifying form of inference; some even take all justification to be a matter of explanatory reasoning. On the other hand, critics object that inference to the best explanation is not a fundamental form of inference, and some argue that we should be skeptical of inference to the best explanation in general. This volume brings together twenty philosophers to explore various aspects of inference to the best explanation and the debates surrounding it. These specially commissioned essays constitute the cutting edge of research on the role explanatory considerations play in epistemology and philosophy of science.

Best Explanations: New Essays on Inference to the Best Explanation 1st Table of contents:

1: Best Explanations: An Introduction
References
PART I: Inference to the Best Explanation
2: Inference to the Best Explanation: What Is It? And Why Should We Care?
1. What Is Inference to the Best Explanation?
2. IBE in the Psychology of Reasoning
3. Fleshing Out the Slogan
4. Conclusion
References
3: Peirce and Ramsey: Truth, Pragmatism, and Inference to the Best Explanation
1. Introduction
2. Peirce
3. Ramsey
References
4: Inference to the Best Explanation, Cleaned Up and Made Respectable
1. IBE, Cleaned Up
1.1 Explanatoriness as power
1.2 The measure of power ℰ
2. IBE, Made Respectable
2.1 Some implications of power
2.2 What computers can teach us about IBE
3. Conclusions
Appendix A: Uniqueness of ℰ
Acknowledgments
References
PART II: The Fundamentality of Inference to the Best Explanation
5: Reasoning to the Best Explanation
1. Introduction
2. The Concept of Explanation
3. Reasoning to the Best Explanation and the Internalism/Externalism Debate in Epistemology
4. Forms of Explanationism
5. Fundamental and Derivative Epistemic Principles
5.1 Objection
5.2 Best explanation
5.3 The problem of perception and causal reasoning
References
6: Inference to the Best Explanation: Fundamentalism’s Failures
1. Fundamentalism
2. Reductive Pluralism
2.1 Thick relations
2.2 Thick virtues
2.3 Induction
3. Multiple Realizability?
4. Primitivism
5. Counterfactual Dependence
6. Why-Questions
7. Conclusion
References
7: Inference to the Best Explanation, Bayesianism, and Knowledge
1. Introduction
2. Heuristic Compatibilism
3. Three Challenges for Compatibilism
3.1 Knowledge and objectivity
3.2 Knowledge, evidence, and credence
3.2.1 Jeffrey conditionalization
3.3 Knowledge and IBE
3.4 Three challenges summarized
4. Probability and Plausibility
5. Assessing Objective Plausibility
6. Plausibility, Knowledge, and Eliminativism
7. Conclusion
References
8: The Evidential Impact of Explanatory Considerations
1. Explanatoriness Matters even if SOT is Granted
2. Why SOT Does Not Hold in all Cases
References
PART III: Justifying Inference to the Best Explanation
9: Inference to the Best Explanation and Epistemic Circularity
1. The Epistemic Status of IBE: a Puzzle
2. R ule Circularity: a Distinction
3. Perceptual Warrant: an Analogy
4. The Modified Justificatory Puzzle for IBE, Redux
5. Conclusion
References
10: In Defense of Rationalism aboutAbductive Inference
1. Rationalism, Abductivism, and Rationalism about Abduction
2. Motivating Rationalism about Inferential Justification
3. Interpretations of Epistemic Probability
4. Ramsey’s Objection to Keynesian Probability
5. A priori Probabilities, and the Connectionto Abduction
6. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
PART IV: Inference to the Best Explanation and Skepticism
11: Does Skepticism Presuppose Explanationism?
1. The Explanationist Response to Skepticism
2. The Quasi-Logical Approach to Skeptical Challenges
3. The Explanationist Approach to Skeptical Challenges
4. The Explanationist Approach to Dreaming Skepticism
5. Skepticism about Explanationism
References
12: Scepticism about Inference to the Best Explanation
1. Introduction
2. Inference to the Best Explanation
3. Scepticism
4. Reasoned Responses to Scepticism: Typology
5. Eliminativism about IBE
6. Five Sceptical Argument against IBE
6.1 First argument against IBE
6.2 Second argument against IBE
6.3 Third argument against IBE
6.4 Fourth argument against IBE
6.5 Fifth argument against IBE
7. Conclusion
References
13: External World Skepticism and Inference to the Best Explanation
1. Introduction
2. An Argument for External World Skepticism
3. First Line of Concern about the Continuity-Based IBE Response
4. Second Line of Concern about the Continuity-Based IBE Response
5. Third Line of Concern: Explanatory Goodness Is Not a Guide to Truth
Acknowledgments
References
PART V: Applications of Inference to the Best Explanation
14: Explanation, Confirmation,and Hempel’s Paradox
1. Introduction
2. A Step towards Solving Hempel’s Paradox
3. CCCE and SCCE
4. Entailment, High Probability, and Increase in Probability
5. Explanatory Power
6. Causation and Screening-Off
6.1 Bayesian causal networks
6.2 (c5)
6.3 Why CCC and SCC fail
6.4 Why CCCEc5 and SCCEc5 fail
7. A Solution to Hempel’s Paradox
8. Conclusion
Appendix A: Counterexample to CCCEc5
Appendix B: Counterexample to SCCEc5
References
15: The Spirit of Cromwell’s Rule
1. Problem
2. Two Analyses
3. Limiting Cases
16: Bayesianism and IBE: The Case of Individual vs. Group Selection
1. Introduction
2. IBE and Bayesianism
3. Williams’ Argument against Group Selection
3.1 An explanationist Bayesian account
3.2 An emergent compatiblist account
4. On the Generality of IBE
5. Conclusion
References
17: Inference to the Best Explanation and the Receipt of Testimony: Testimonial Reductionism Vindica
1. Explanationism and Testimonial Justification
2. The Failure of Brutely Humean Reductionism
3. Explanationist Reductionism: the Inference from Trustworthiness
4. Defending EJTBActual
5. Two Objections Defused
References
Index
Index of Names

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