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Abduction—A Way to Deeper Understanding of the World of Caring
Author(s) -
Eriksson Katie,
Lindström Unni Å.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of caring sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1471-6712
pISSN - 0283-9318
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-6712.1997.tb00455.x
Subject(s) - epistemology , ontology , abstraction , meaning (existential) , process (computing) , triad (sociology) , psychology , sociology , computer science , philosophy , social science , operating system
In this article, abduction is discussed as a possible way of developing an epistemology for an autonomous caring science based on an ontology that requires deeper understanding of the world of caring. The intention is to elicit a more distinct caring‐scientific pattern of knowledge based on the innermost core and historical conditions of caring. Abduction makes it possible to perceive connections on a deeper level and to penetrate in a way that reveals a richness of meaning, reflecting the true being in the dynamic process which is expressed in clinical reality. In the tradition of knowledge developed by Peirce, a synthesis of Hume's and Kant's tradition of knowledge, abduction is a fundamental idea. Peirce sees abduction as an operation of thought in which the recognition of underlying patterns makes a complex reality comprehensible. We regard the triad of abduction, induction and deduction as the basis for developing a caring‐scientific epistemology where abduction makes a synthesizing abstraction possible and may implement understanding of deeper patterns.