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An Introduction to Inquiry: Explanation and Confirmation in Process
Subject: Philosophy & Ethics
Book Language: English
Audience: Undergraduates in logic and critical thinking, and inductive logic, courses.
Created date: November 10, 2021
Updated date: November 10, 2021
Target Release Date: 2022-12-31
License:
- Attribution
Needs:
- Proofreaders
- Editors
Description:
Proposal:
A short primer covering the
process
of inquiry overall, intended to supplement texts on deductive logic and be used in logic and critical thinking courses. Portions of it will also be useful at lower levels, even in public and private K-12 schools. Later sections can be used as an introductory text to an upper level inductive logic course, and as supplemental reading for philosophy of science courses. We see it as being an open-source book, free to students, and would like it to be a charitable contribution from the philosophical community to the public.
Pt 1 surveys the process of Inquiry, the structure of explanation and prediction, very basic confirmation principles (without using any symbolic probability calculus), and Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE). Pt 2 covers the role of simplicity in IBE and confirmation, the development of a basic confirmation calculus, two interpretations of probability (frequency and personalistic), and paradoxes of confirmation. Pt 3 will be an anthology of papers on explanation, scientific method, the application of IBE to ethics and metaphysics, theoretical modelling, Kuhnian paradigms, and any other topics that contributors feel would be important to teach undergraduates and the interested public --topics that can help people understand what real inquiry and theorization looks like.
Excerpt from the Introduction:
Theory construction and theory adoption lie at the foundations of every human discipline. All inquiry relies on theory at some point. The principles of evidence and acceptance do not just apply to ordinary beliefs, but also to theories constructed and put forward as “the truth” by scholars. Evidence and belief–including evidence and the adoption of any scientific or academic theory–are governed by general rational principles, and these principles should constrain both scholars and laymen equally. And so here Philosophers are in a unique position: our findings will undoubtedly affect how we understand ourselves as intellectual, believing creatures. Not only that, but Theories of Inquiry, Explanation, Prediction and Confirmation will shape our understanding of every field of study, from Physics to Literary Criticism.
Despite the importance of inquiry for human life and understanding, books introducing the topic have mostly emerged from the anglo-analytic philosophical tradition, and have been unnecessarily technical, boring, and symbolic. Even seasoned philosophers have significant trouble picking up Popper’s The Logic of Scientific Discovery, due to what is, in my view, its overreliance on mathematical formulas. Worse, once a student struggles through the overly technical literature, they often find that the key insights could have been communicated in less technical jargon. This has been a major drawback of the impressive and rigorous analytic tradition: many of the leading figures in early 20th century analytic philosophy have been extraordinarily intelligent, but have been far too embedded in mathematical topics. These geniuses often seem to lose sight of the fact that human beings are not primarily computational machines. As a result, most students, even students of philosophy, are never introduced to theories of inquiry, explanation, prediction, or confirmation. Confirmation Theory in particular, because it involves the development of symbolic systems of probability, has been locked away from the public. Here, I am attempting to bring confirmation theory to not only the masses, but to philosophers, like myself, who have not spent their formative years engaged in mathematical subjects.
Short Description:
A short primer covering the process of inquiry overall, intended to supplement texts on deductive logic or be used as a primary text in logic and critical thinking courses. Portions of it will also be useful at lower levels, even in public and private K-12 schools. Later sections can be used as an introductory text to an upper level inductive logic course, and as supplemental reading for philosophy of science courses. We see it as being an open-source book, free to students, and would like it to be a charitable contribution from the philosophical community to the public. Pt 1 surveys the process of Inquiry, the structure of explanation and prediction, very basic confirmation principles (without using any symbolic probability calculus), and Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE). Pt 2 covers the role of simplicity in IBE and confirmation, and the development and interpretation of a basic confirmation calculus. Pt 3 is an anthology of open source readings pertaining to inquiry.
