Theme One • A Program Of Inquiry 19

Re: Richard J. Lipton • Knowledge Is Good

It’s the usual thing to say scientific inquiry involves a combination of deductive and inductive reasoning.  A slightly different, 3-phase model, going back to Aristotle and revived by Charles S. Peirce, analyzes the process producing knowledge into abductive, deductive, and inductive stages.  Abductive inference is used to generate a hypothesis, deduction is used to derive its logical consequences, and inductive reasoning is how we test the hypothesis against experimental observations.

Here’s a few thoughts toward the design of software platforms for integrating these three components of inquiry.  (Also research and teaching.)

• An Architecture for Inquiry • Building Computer Platforms for Discovery

Resource

• Survey of Theme One Program

cc: Cybernetics • Ontolog Forum • Peirce (1) (2) • Structural Modeling • Systems Science