Models of Abduction – From an Interrogative Viewpoint

In this paper I will discuss models of abduction from an interrogative viewpoint. However, my interrogative viewpoint will not be as radical as the interrogative logic of inquiry developed by Jakkoo Hintikka and his collaborators. Hintikka's interroga-tive logic (1998, Hintikka et al. 2000) starts from the assumption that all newly ac-quired information in scientific discovery must be obtained from a reliable informa-tion source. This source is abstractly viewed as an oracle which gives answers to our questions. In scientific discovery, the ultimate oracle is nature itself − as it presents itself in observations or controlled experiments. Therefore, in Hintikka's interrogative theory of inquiry only two basic and irreducible steps of inquiry are needed: (1.) logico-deductive inference steps, in which one acquires information from other pre-viously acquired information, and (2.) interrogative moves, i.e. question-answer steps, where one puts questions to nature in form of experiments and obtains certain answers from these experiments. Non-deductive or ampliative inference steps such as induction or abduction do not literally exist in Hintikka's interrogative theory of in-quiry: they are reduced to interrogative steps, to question-answer-steps