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Comparing abduction and retroduction in Peircean pragmatism and critical realism

Bibliographic Data

ID7104960
AuthorsBridget Ritz (0000-0002-0322-9930, Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume19
Issue5
Pages456-465
Publication date2020-10-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Critical Realism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1476-7430 • E-ISSN: 1572-5138
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14767430.2020.1831817
OpenAlexW3093950338
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited13

Abduction as a method for sociological explanation is increasingly gaining interest, but questions remain as to what exactly it is and how it differs from other methods of inquiry. This paper compares abduction as conceived in Peircean pragmatism with the critical realist concept of retroduction. I argue that abduction in the Peircean sense and retroduction in the critical realist sense refer to different, but complementary, modes of inference. Abductive conclusions provide the starting point for retroductive inferences; the latter inform the tenability of the former. Together, abduction and retroduction contribute to theoretical explanation

Abductive reasoning · Critical realism (philosophy of perception · Epistemology · Inference · Pragmatism · Realism · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Critical Realism in Sociology · Philosophy · Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education

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Unique citing works22
Citations per year4,4
Citation span2021 - 2026 (6)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 22
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