What is abduction?
Abduction is connected to the analytical view but also, partly, to the systems view and has relations to concepts like induction and deduction. The concept was coined by Peirce (1839-1914) and describes one way of thinking and acting when you are facing some individual case which is difficult to explain through traditional inductive and deductive thinking. One may also say that abduction is commonly connected to pragmatism (see the Appendix of the book A.1) and is, in this respect, closer to the methodical procedures and methodics of the systems view (see Chapter 7 in the book). The focus is on, in a process of searching, to generate hypotheses around cases difficult to explain, which are placed against a number of different kinds of facts which may on probable grounds verify or falsify the hypotheses. This way, the abductive process becomes more of a way of renewing knowledge than deepening it. 4.
