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Inference to the best explanation in the catch-22: how much autonomy for Mill’s method of difference?

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Scholl, Raphael
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	In his seminal Inference to the Best Explanation, Peter Lipton adopted a causal view of explanation and a broadly Millian view of how causal knowledge is obtained. This made his account vulnerable to critics who charged that Inference to the Best Explanation is merely a dressed-up version of Mill’s methods, which in the critics’ view do the real inductive work. Lipton advanced two arguments to protect Inference to the Best Explanation against this line of criticism: the problem of multiple differences and the problem of inferred differences. Lipton claimed that these two problems show Mill’s method of difference to be largely unworkable unless it is embedded in an explanationist framework. Here I consider both arguments as well as the best Millian defense against them. Since the existing Millian defense is only partially successful, I will develop a new and improved account. As an integral part of the argument, I show that my solutions to the problems of multiple and inferred differences offer new insight into Lipton’s main case study: Ignaz Semmelweis’s discovery of the cause of childbed fever. I conclude that the method of difference can overcome Lipton’s challenges outside an explanationist framework.
Starting Page	89
Ending Page	110
Page Count	22
File Format	PDF
ISSN	18794912
Journal	European Journal for Philosophy of Science
Volume Number	5
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	18794920
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2014-09-26
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Inference to the best explanation Mill’s methods Causal inference Semmelweis Catch-22 Multiple differences Inferred differences Integrated history and philosophy of science Philosophy of Science
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Philosophy History and Philosophy of Science

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