Abductive reasoning as a paraconsistent believe change (AGM) process

• Grant number: 24/22555-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: October 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - Logic
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Esteban Coniglio
• Grantee: Ulisses Franceschi Eliano
• Host Institution: Centro de Lógica, Epistemologia e História da Ciência (CLE). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The goal of this thesis is to logically formalize abductive reasoning, conceived as a process of belief change, in order to enable contradictory explanatory hypotheses, either among themselves or among previous beliefs, in a given epistemic state. To this end, three philosophical, conceptual, and logical pillars will be elucidated, systematized, and integrated: i) abduction, ii) the belief dynamics and the AGM belief revision system, and iii) paraconsistency - specifically related to the logics of formal inconsistency (LFIs). Each of these pillars has an large theoretical framework and vast literature to be explored. Thus, in order to establish the conditions to evaluate the virtues and limitations of the formal model to be constructed, beyond the mere logical formalization itself, a sufficiently detailed philosophical and conceptual detailing of each of these pillars is, I believe, indispensable.