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(2002) Synthese 130 (3).

Testing inference to the best explanation

Igor Douven

pp. 355-377

Inference to the Best Explanation has become the subject of a livelydebate in the philosophy of science. Scientific realists maintain, while scientificantirealists deny, that it is a compelling rule of inference. It seems that anyattempt to settle this debate empirically must beg the question against theantirealist. The present paper argues that this impression is misleading. A methodis described that, by combining Glymour's theory of bootstrapping and Hacking'sarguments from microscopy, allows us to test IBE without begging any antirealistissues.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1023/A:1014859910339

Full citation:

Douven, I. (2002). Testing inference to the best explanation. Synthese 130 (3), pp. 355-377.

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