Category Archives: Scientific Method

What part do arguments from authority play in mathematical reasoning?

In forming your answer you may choose to address any or all of the following aspects of the question: Descriptive What part do arguments from authority actually play in mathematical reasoning? Normative What part do arguments from authority ideally play … Continue reading

Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Authority, Control, Control Theory, Cybernetics, Fixation of Belief, History of Mathematics, History of Science, Information, Information Theory, Inquiry, Inquiry Driven Systems, Intelligent Systems, Intuition, Logic, Logic of Science, Mathematical Intuition, Mathematical Reasoning, Operations Research, Optimal Control, Optimization, Philosophy of Science, Scientific Method | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Difference That Makes A Difference That Peirce Makes • 1

Being one who does not view Peirce’s work as a flickering foreshadowing of analytic philosophy, logical whatevism, or anything else you want to call it, but leans more to thinking of the latter philosophies as fumbling fallbacks losing what ground … Continue reading

Posted in C.S. Peirce, Inquiry, Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy, Pragmatism, Science, Scientific Method, Semiotics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tenacity, Authority, Plausibility, Inquiry

Re: Peter Cameron • Mathematics and Logic My favorite polymathematician, Charles Sanders Peirce, gave a fourfold classification of what he called “methods of fixing belief”, or “settling opinion”, most notably and seminally in his paper, “The Fixation of Belief” (1877).  … Continue reading

Posted in Authority, Belief, Belief Fixation, C.S. Peirce, Fixation of Belief, Inquiry, Logic, Method, Philosophy of Science, Plausibility, Science, Scientific Inquiry, Scientific Method, Tenacity, Uncertainty | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Abduction, Deduction, Induction, Analogy, Inquiry • 2

Re: Peirce List • Kirsti Määttänen Inference from particulars to particulars is also called analogy. Peirce gave a fair account of the logic behind statistical inference, as used in the research sciences from before his time to the present day.  … Continue reading

Posted in Abduction, Analogy, Aristotle, Artificial Intelligence, C.S. Peirce, Deduction, Induction, Inquiry, Inquiry Driven Systems, Intelligent Systems Engineering, Logic, Mental Models, Peirce, Scientific Method, Semiotics, Systems | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Abduction, Deduction, Induction, Analogy, Inquiry • 1

Here are several excursions I made into the subjects of Abduction, Deduction, Induction, and Analogy, comparing Peirce’s first formulations with those in Aristotle and focusing on the ways those patterns of inference fit into the Cycle of Inquiry.  Much of … Continue reading

Posted in Abduction, Analogy, Aristotle, Artificial Intelligence, C.S. Peirce, Deduction, Induction, Inquiry, Inquiry Driven Systems, Intelligent Systems Engineering, Logic, Mental Models, Peirce, Scientific Method, Semiotics, Systems | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments