Research / Research program
Abduction and Induction
How hypotheses are proposed, what makes it possible to test them and what we are entitled to claim on their basis.
The development of a problem
This program studies abduction and induction in the work of Charles S. Peirce and examines their consequences for contemporary debates about inquiry. The historical work follows the development of his manuscripts: changes in the use of terms such as hypothesis, abduction and retroduction call for a reconstruction of the problems they addressed.
The 2012 study proposes a periodization into five stages and a reading of the theory as developing over time. The distinction between abduction and induction runs through that reconstruction. It raises the question of how changes in terminology relate to the form of the inferences and to the place Peirce assigns them in inquiry.
Criteria, Validity, Justification, and Role in Inquiry
The 2012 and 2014 works develop three criteria for identifying and contrasting these inferences. The formal criterion concerns the relation between the premisses and what is inferred. The methodological criterion examines how evidence is obtained and the role of each inference in an investigation. The epistemic criterion asks what the conclusion entitles us to claim.
On this interpretation of Peircean scientific inquiry, an abductive conclusion yields a suspicion that calls for examination. Deduction develops consequences of the hypothesis, and induction participates in testing it. Moving from a plausible hypothesis to a supported opinion requires consideration of how the evidence was obtained and what it can establish.
These distinctions also guide the discussion of inference to the best explanation. The 2012 article critically examines its identification with Peircean abduction, attending to the role of experience and evidence in pragmatism. What is at issue is the extent of the justification we attribute to a hypothesis.
Naturalization of Logic and Real Agents
The naturalization of logic is another central concern of this program. It relates the study of inference to the activity of real agents and raises questions about their capacities, available resources and conditions of inquiry. This requires examining the relation between descriptions of reasoning and the criteria by which we assess its results.
The 2019 text, Woods’s Naturalization of Logic: Logic for Real Agents, is a central reference for this line of work. Its place in the program connects the discussion of abduction and induction with John Woods’s project of naturalizing logic. The question of what an inference enables us to know is thus accompanied by another: what conditions a logic of reasoning by real agents needs to address.
Abducing Abduction
The book brings a historical reconstruction of Peircean abduction together with an examination of its uses in contemporary debates. It studies the standard schema of abduction and its relation to induction, and develops a perspective from Agentive Semiotics. Its bibliographic record and publisher reference appear among the selected readings.
Agents and current questions
The 2025 chapter on abductive cognition studies the relation between agents’ agendas, the resources at their disposal and the cultural contexts of their activity. This line of work allows an examination of the purposes that orient abductive inquiry and the conditions under which it can contribute to knowledge and understanding.
Recent presentations return to the relation between abduction and induction and the problem of the presumptive conditional in the standard schema. Others raise questions about the preservation of ignorance in John Woods’s model and about medical diagnosis in the context of generative artificial intelligence. They offer different approaches to the question of what our inferences epistemically warrant.
Selected reading
Work on the historical reconstruction and criteria for distinguishing inferences, the naturalization of logic and the agentive perspective.
2026
Abducing Abduction. Novel Perspectives on Peircean Abduction and Their Consequences For Contemporary Debates
A study of Peircean abduction and its consequences for contemporary debates. Springer · 2026.
Full bibliographic record2012
Abducción e inducción en Peirce: Evolución y criterios
Historical periodization and criteria for distinguishing abduction and induction.
Published in deSignis, no. 20, pp. 153–161. The link opens the full issue PDF at the article.
Full bibliographic recordRead and download at deSignis (PDF)
Published version · pp. 153–161 of the complete issue.
2014
Peirce’s Abduction
An account of the formal, methodological and epistemic criteria.
Full bibliographic recordRestricted access. For further information, contact the author.
2012
Abducción y pragmatismo peirceano versus inferencia a la mejor explicación y empirismo: un comentario crítico
A critical examination of the identification of Peircean abduction with inference to the best explanation.
Full bibliographic record2019
Woods's Naturalization of Logic: Logic for Real Agents
A central reference for the study of naturalized logic and real agents, in dialogue with John Woods.
Full bibliographic recordRead the draft (PDF, 28 pages)
Current version: 2026-09-11 · r01
2025
Abductive Cognition in Agentive Semiotics: A Proposal
Abductive cognition, agendas and resources from Agentive Semiotics.
Full bibliographic recordRestricted access. For further information, contact the author.
2008
Abducting Abduction. Avatares de la comprensión de la abducción de Charles S. Peirce
Doctoral research on the development and reception of abduction in Peirce.
Full bibliographic record
Recent presentations
Presentations from 2025 and 2026 in Colombia, Rome, Tucumán and Valparaíso.
Abducción e Inducción en Peirce: una interpretación y una propuesta
Conferencia por invitación. Sociedad de Lógica de Colombia. 30 de julio de 2026.
Event detailsWhen Abduction Preserves Ignorance: On the Missing Upgrade Step in John Woods's Causal-Response Model of Knowledge
Ponencia. 10th International Conference on Model-Based Reasoning: Epistemology, Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science (MBR026). Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italia. 18 de junio de 2026.
Event detailsEl diagnóstico médico: entre la abducción y la IA generativa
Conferencia virtual por invitación. Instituto de Epistemología, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina. 1 de junio de 2026.
Event detailsEl problema del condicional presuntivo en el Esquema Estándar de la Abducción: una propuesta
Ponencia. III Congreso de la Sociedad Latinoamericana Peirce. Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile. 25 de septiembre de 2025.
Event details
Connection with Agentive Semiotics
Attention to agents’ purposes and capacities connects this research with the study of meaning-making.
Read about Agentive Semiotics