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Justifying Inference to the Best Explanation as a Practical Meta-Syllogism on Dialectical Structures

Betz, Gregor (2011) Justifying Inference to the Best Explanation as a Practical Meta-Syllogism on Dialectical Structures. [Preprint]

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Abstract

This article discusses how inference to the best explanation (IBE) can be justified as a practical meta-argument. It is, firstly, justified as a *practical* argument insofar as accepting the best explanation as true can be shown to further a specific aim. And because this aim is a discursive one which proponents can rationally pursue in--and relative to--a complex controversy, namely maximising the robustness of one's position, IBE can be conceived, secondly, as a *meta*-argument. My analysis thus bears a certain analogy to Sellars' well-known justification of inductive reasoning (Sellars 1969); it is based on recently developed theories of complex argumentation (Betz 2010, 2011).


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Betz, Gregorgregor.betz@kit.edu
Keywords: inference to the best explanation; abduction; argumentation theory; degree of justification
Subjects: General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > Explanation
Depositing User: Gregor Betz
Date Deposited: 03 Oct 2011 12:21
Last Modified: 03 Oct 2011 12:21
Item ID: 8821
Subjects: General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > Explanation
Date: 2011
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8821

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