harnad@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Stevan Harnad) (11/28/88)
Below is the abstract of a forthcoming target article to appear in
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EXPLANATORY COHERENCE
Paul Thagard
Cognitive Science Loboratory
Princeton University
Princeton NJ 08542
This paper presents a new computational theory of explanatory coherence
that applies both to the acceptance and rejection of scientific
hypotheses and to reasoning in everyday life. The theory
consists of seven principles that establish relations of local
coherence between a hypothesis and other propositions that explain it,
are explained by it, or contradict it. An explanatory hypothesis is
accepted if it coheres better overall than its competitors.
The power of the seven principles is shown by their implementation in a
connectionist program called ECHO, which has been applied to
such important scientific cases as Lavoisier's argument for
oxygen against the phlogiston theory and Darwin's argument for evolution
against creationism, and also to cases of legal reasoning. The
theory of explanatory coherence has implications for artificial
intelligence, psychology, and philosophy.
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