Behavioral and Brain Sciences 12 (3):435-467 (1989)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
This target article presents a new computational theory of explanatory coherence that applies to the acceptance and rejection of scientific hypotheses as well as to reasoning in everyday life, The theory consists of seven principles that establish relations of local coherence between a hypothesis and other propositions. A hypothesis coheres with propositions that it explains, or that explain it, or that participate with it in explaining other propositions, or that offer analogous explanations. Propositions are incoherent with each other if they are contradictory, Propositions that describe the results of observation have a degree of acceptability on their own. An explanatory hypothesis is acccpted if it coheres better overall than its competitors. The power of the seven principles is shown by their implementation in a connectionist program called ECHO, which treats hypothesis evaluation as a constraint satisfaction problem. Inputs about the explanatory relations are used to create a network of units representing propositions, while coherende and incoherence relations are encoded by excitatory and inbihitory links. ECHO provides an algorithm for smoothly integrating theory evaluation based on considerations of explanatory breadth, simplicity, and analogy. It has been applied to such important scientific cases as Lovoisier's argument for oxygen against the phlogiston theory and Darwin's argument for evolution against creationism, and also to cases of legal reasoning. The theory of explanatory coherence has implications for artificial intelligence, psychology, and philosophy.
|
Keywords | artificial intelligence attribution theory coherence connectionism epistemology explanation legal reasoning scientific reasoning theory evaluation |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1017/s0140525x00057046 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World.Wesley C. Salmon - 1984 - Princeton University Press.
Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment.Richard E. Nisbett & Lee Ross - 1980 - Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA: Prentice-Hall.
View all 125 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Bayesian Fundamentalism or Enlightenment? On the Explanatory Status and Theoretical Contributions of Bayesian Models of Cognition.Matt Jones & Bradley C. Love - 2011 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 34 (4):169-188.
Analogical Mapping by Constraint Satisfaction.Keith J. Holyoak & Paul Thagard - 1989 - Cognitive Science 13 (3):295-355.
Scientific Explanation and the Sense of Understanding.J. D. Trout - 2002 - Philosophy of Science 69 (2):212-233.
View all 189 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
Inference to the Best Explanation, Coherence and Other Explanatory Virtues.Adolfas Mackonis - 2013 - Synthese 190 (6):975-995.
Coherence, Truth, and the Development of Scientific Knowledge.Paul Thagard - 2007 - Philosophy of Science 74 (1):28-47.
Why Wasn't O.J. Convicted? Emotional Coherence in Legal Inference.Paul Thagard - 2003 - Cognition and Emotion 17 (3):361-383.
The Explanatory Coherence of Continental Drift.Paul Thagard & Gregory Nowak - 1988 - PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1988:118-126.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2009-08-21
Total views
259 ( #42,015 of 2,505,175 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
18 ( #47,476 of 2,505,175 )
2009-08-21
Total views
259 ( #42,015 of 2,505,175 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
18 ( #47,476 of 2,505,175 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads