Inference to the Best Explanation SECOND EDITION

How do we go about weighing evidence, testing hypotheses, and making inferences? The model of "inference to the best explanation" (IBE) -- that we infer the hypothesis that would, if correct, provide the best explanation of the available evidence--offers a compelling account of inferences both in science and in ordinary life.
Widely cited by epistemologists and philosophers of science, IBE has nonetheless remained little more than a slogan. Now this influential work has been thoroughly revised and updated, and features a new introduction and two new chapters. "Inference to the Best Explanation" is an unrivaled exposition of a theory of particular interest in the fields both of epistemology and the philosophy of science.

How do we go about weighing evidence, testing hypotheses, and making inferences? According to the model of Inference to the Best Explanation, we work out what to infer from the evidence by thinking about what would actually explain that evidence, and we take the ability of a hypothesis to explain the evidence as a sign that the hypothesis is correct. In Inference to the Best Explanation, Peter Lipton gives this important and influential idea the development and assessment it deserves.The second edition has been substantially enlarged and reworked, with a new chapter on the relationship between explanation and Bayesianism, and an extension and defence of the account of contrastive explanation. It also includes an expanded defence of the claims that our inferences really are guided by diverse explanatory considerations, and that this pattern of inference can take us towards the truth. This edition of Inference to the Best Explanation has also been updated throughout and includes a new bibliography.

Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition Introduction 1. Induction 2. Explanation 3. The Causal Model 4. Inference to the Best Explanation 5. Contrastive Inference 6. The Raven Paradox 7. Bayesian Abduction 8. Explanation as a Guide to Inference 9. Loveliness and Truth 10. Prediction and Prejudice 11. Truth and Explanation Conclusion Bibliography Index

Peter Lipton is Hans Rausing Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.