Open AccessThe Abduction of the Atom: An Exercise in Hypothesizing
Author(s) -
Joseph A. Novak
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
informal logic
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.368
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 2293-734X
pISSN - 0824-2577
DOI - 10.22329/il.v17i2.2409
Subject(s) - presentation (obstetrics) , epistemology , atom (system on chip) , period (music) , psychology , philosophy , computer science , aesthetics , medicine , radiology , embedded system
The paper attempts to schematize, in the form of abductive inferences, the major changes in the developing picture of the atom during the modem period of scientific investigation. The aim of this presentation is to enable students in logic or the philosophy of science to see how a sustained application of abduction might be seen as operative in the development of changing conceptions of the atom, a development which may well be seen as a scientific revolution. The sustained example also illustrates, in pedagogic fashion, the role of images in abduction, the theory-observation distinction, and the analytic-synthetic distinction.