%0 Conference Proceedings %B PhDs in Logic III %D 2012 %T The problem of multiple explanatory hypotheses %A Gauderis, Tjerk %E Demey, Lorenz %E Devuyst, Jonas %X

In abduction – the process of finding explanatory hypotheses for puzzling phenomena – one is often confronted with multiple explanatory hypotheses. In science one generally wants to test further the different hypotheses one by one. But, if we try to model this in a logic and make it possible to derive the differen t hypotheses apart from each other, we generally can derive their conjunction too. An elegant solution within the framework of adaptive logics is provided in Gauderis (2011). But this approach is not restricted to science. While it is true that a lot of cases in everyday reasoning require a more practical approach – in which one acts on the knowledge that all the different hypotheses might be the case – there are also a considerable amount of situations in which the more theoretical approach of the scientist is needed. In this paper we try to illustrate this by using this logic to model reasoning within detective literature.

%B PhDs in Logic III %I College Publications %P 45-53 %G eng