Research On Peirce's Abductive Inference Theory

Abduction,also known as "retroduction",is an important reasoning method to disclose the causality or the developing laws of things via abductive reasoning.As a reasoning method used to infer the possible reasons through data observation,it is also a primary method in raising and proving scientific hypothesis.Peirce holds that abduction is essentially a combination of rational reasoning and instinct.It is in fact a reasoning pattern of people which is based on the "power of instinct",thus it is often ignored.Without abduction,people would not only lose the opportunity to acquire new knowledge but also life itself would be disturbed since people don't know how to communicate with each other.The theory of abduction can be applied to various fields and disciplines,such as the proposal of scientific hypotheses,the case-solving in criminal justice,computer science and artificial intelligence.The in-depth development of these fields has produced a lot of mature models of abduction,which would ultimately benefits human beings.This paper focused on the study of Peirce's theory of abductive reasoning by comparative analysis and case study.The research was conducted on the basis of Peirce's abductive reasoning model,and the development of Peirce's abductive reasoning theory was analyzed.Other researchers' work of the theory was summarized.Meanwhile,this paper discussed the achievements and shortcomings of the theory,Finally,case study was employed to elaborate the application of the theory in scientific discovery and criminal justice,and the future and problems of Peirce's abductive reasoning theory was anticipated.