Compositional Abduction and Scientific Interpretation

A Granular Approach

Kenneth Aizawa (Rutgers University, New Jersey)

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English

Cambridge University Press
04 December 2025

Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology; Philosophy of science; Scientific equipment, experiments & techniques; Neurosciences

Abductive reasoning is a form of inference that infers some hypothesis because of what that hypothesis explains. Unlike deductive reasoning, it yields a plausible conclusion but does not definitively verify it. The theory of compositional abduction developed in this book provides a novel theory of confirmation. Aizawa uses case studies to analyse how scientists interpret the results of experiments to support compositional hypotheses (hypotheses about what things are composed of) and suggests that they use a kind of abduction. His theory is offered as an alternative account of scientific reasoning that the logical empiricists would have interpreted as hypothetico-deductive confirmation. It is also an alternative to the Peircean interpretation of the role of abduction in science. It will be valuable to philosophers of science, those working on hypothetico-deductive confirmation, Peirce's view of abduction, inference to the best explanation, and the New Mechanism. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

By: Kenneth Aizawa (Rutgers University New Jersey)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
ISBN: 9781009435697
ISBN 10: 1009435698
Pages: 274
Publication Date: 04 December 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Kenneth Aizawa is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, Newark. He is co-editor (with Carl Gillett) of Scientific Composition and Metaphysical Ground (2016), co-author (with Fred Adams) of The Bounds of Cognition (2008), and author of The Systematicity Arguments (2003).

Reviews for Compositional Abduction and Scientific Interpretation: A Granular Approach

'Aizawa's Compositional Abduction and Scientific Interpretation is a model for science-first history and philosophy of science. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the role of explanatory reasoning in experimental science.' Kevin McCain, University of Alabama at Birmingham