abduction
<logic> The process of inference to the best explanation.
"Abduction" is sometimes used to mean just the generation of hypotheses to
explain observations or conclusionsm, but the former definition is more common
both in philosophy and computing.
The semantics and the implementation of abduction cannot be reduced to those for
deduction, as explanation cannot be reduced to implication.
Applications include fault diagnosis, plan formation and default reasoning.
Negation as failure in logic programming can both be given an abductive
interpretation and also can be used to implement abduction. The abductive
semantics of negation as failure leads naturally to an argumentation-theoretic
interpretation of default reasoning in general.
[Better explanation? Example?]
["Abductive Inference", John R. Josephson
<jj@cis.ohio-state.edu>].
(2000-12-07)
Nearby terms:
ABCL/c+ « ABCL/R « ABCL/R2 « abduction » ABEND » ABI
» ABLE
