ABSTRACT
In this chapter and the next four, I will consider some of the prospects of Inference to the Best Explanation as a solution to the descriptive problem of inductive inference. We want to determine how illuminating that account is as a partial description of the mechanism inside the cognitive black box that governs our inductive practices. To do this, we need to show how explanatory considerations are a guide to inference or confirmation; how loveliness helps to determine likeliness. In particular, we want to see whether the model can meet the two central challenges from the last chapter, to show that inferences to the best explanation are more than inferences to the likeliest cause, and to show that Inference to the Best Explanation marks an advance over the simple hypothetico-deductive model.
