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Terry, I think you are kind of getting wound around in circles by your phrasing. Abduction at the bare bones level is the accumulation of facts in a given situation that lead you towards a plausible explanation within the context of that situation. The plausible explanation plays the role of “hypothesis” - because its not a proven “fact”. (Of course if you put on your scientist hat, then what you typically would be thinking now is not about proving the hypothesis, but ways to falsify it. If you are “Sherlock Holmes” on the other hand, a plausible explanation is what you are looking for. ) —jon— > On Feb 10, 2015, at 2:52 PM, Terence Love <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Hi Ken, > Many thanks, and thanks for the files. > Just wondering how many other methods of hypothesis formation are there? > Also how does this square with abduction being explanation (assuming explanation and hypothesis are different kinds of thing )? > Best wishes, > Terry > > -----Original Message----- > From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ken Friedman > Sent: Tuesday, 10 February 2015 8:29 PM > To: PhD-Design > Subject: Abduction > > Dear Terry and all, > > Abduction is essentially a mode of forming hypotheses. Technically, abduction is “inference to best explanation.” This entails many issues — with room for debate. The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy offers an excellent article on abduction, with a good reference list and sources of additional information: > > http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/abduction/ > > While C. S. Peirce wrote at length on abduction, he was not the first to do so earlier or since. The phenomenon has long been described in different ways. The crucial issue is that abduction is a logic of discovery. Abductive inference is not a logic of proof — one requires other means to determine the validity or facticity of abductive inference. > > This is why abduction is one method of hypothesis formation. Generating hypotheses is a necessary step in discovery, but for everything human beings have learned, there have been more false or incorrect hypotheses than true or correct hypotheses. > > In recent articles and reports, I have seen the incorrect assertion that scientific research makes use of induction and deduction while design research makes use of abduction. This is incorrect. Scientists use abduction to form hypotheses, and researchers in all fields require induction and deduction — as well as experiment and observation — to choose among hypotheses. > > Peirce and others treat abduction as a way of knowing, but not as a way of validating the knowledge. This requires other methods. > > For those who wish to read further, I have a DropBox collection of articles on abduction in PDF format. If you wish access to the collection, send me an off-list email and I will be happy to grant access to the collection. > > Regards, > > Ken > > Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Elsevier in Cooperation with Tongji University Press | Launching in 2015 > > Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| University Distinguished Professor | Centre for Design Innovation | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia > > Email [log in to unmask] | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn > > > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> > Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design > Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design > ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design -----------------------------------------------------------------