Abductive Learning

Synonyms

Explanatory inference; Inference to the best explanation; Retroduction

Definition

The word abduction comes from the Latin word abducere, which means “to lead away from.” It is sometimes used interchangeably with the word retroduction, which comes from the Latin words retro, meaning “backwards” and ducere meaning “to lead.” The term abductionis most commonly used to describe forms of reasoning that are concerned with the generation and evaluation of explanatory hypotheses. Abductive reasoning, then, is often portrayed as explanatory reasoning that leads back from facts to a proposed explanation of those facts. It is different from inductive reasoning, which is commonly concerned with descriptive inference that results in generalizations. The phrase “abductive learning” can be taken to cover a wide range of concerns where learning outcomes result from the employment of abductive reasoning. Abductive learning occurs widely in scientific, professional, lay, and educational...