Hansonian and Harmanian Abduction as Models of Discovery

Abstract

In this article, I compare two varieties of abduction as reconstructive models for analysing discovery. The first is ‘Hansonian abduction’, which is based on N. R. Hanson’s formulations of abduction. The other is ‘Harmanian abduction’, the Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) model, formulated especially by Gilbert Harman. Peter Lipton has analysed processes of discovery on the basis of his developed form of Harmanian abduction. I argue that Hansonian abduction would, however, be a more apt model for this purpose. As an example, I reconstruct, in a Hansonian manner, Ignaz Semmelweis’s research on childbed fever and compare it to the IBE reconstruction of Lipton. I argue that Hansonian abduction is in accordance with Lipton’s aim of taking into account the distinction between actual and potential explanations on the one hand, and between likely and lovely explanations on the other. I maintain that a developed version of Hansonian abduction combined with loveliness gives an important, new conceptual means for analysing processes of discovery.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank two anonymous reviewers of this journal, the editor James W. McAllister, and Hal White for giving pointed comments on this article which helped me to improve it.

Notes

[1] I want to thank one of the reviewers for emphasizing this.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sami Paavola

Sami Paavola is at University of Helsinki, Finland.