Inference to the Best Explanation

The common role of research programs in science and religion is now widely accepted. The next step in the methodology debate is to specify more concretely the shared standards for adequate explanations. The article presents a detailed account of the method of inference to the best explanation and gi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Clayton, Philip 1956- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 1997
In: Zygon
Year: 1997, Volume: 32, Issue: 3, Pages: 377-391
Further subjects:B philosophy of science
B Rationality
B Science and religion
B Scientific Method
B Imre Lakatos
B Peter Lipton
B inference to the best explanation
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Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:The common role of research programs in science and religion is now widely accepted. The next step in the methodology debate is to specify more concretely the shared standards for adequate explanations. The article presents a detailed account of the method of inference to the best explanation and gives examples of how the method can structure the philosophical and theological interaction with science. The resulting approach dispenses with deductive and inductive proofs of religious propositions and limits itself to initially plausible hypotheses that are to be assessed according to their explanatory power. Only when a domain of data and a particular explanatory task have been specified can any serious claim be made that religious theories are equal or superior to their naturalistic alternatives.
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/0591-2385.00097