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:	Creators Email ORCID Betz, Gregor gregor.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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