The Problem of Abductive Inference: Between Magic and Disenchantment
The Problem of Abductive Inference: Between Magic and Disenchantment

Summary/Abstract: In this article, I proceed from the already discussed problem of subjectness in abductive inference, aiming to offer a deeper experimental analysis of its endogenous practical logic in light of the problem of the so-called metamorphoses of magic and disenchantment in the context of the problems of theories of structures of self-mediation. To this end, I first present in detail the problem of the functions of abductive inference, and then offer an experimental analysis of a case of innovative labor – the story of Thomas Edison’s invention of the electric lamp and his attempts to turn it into an economic innovation. Against the background of some major moments in its factual history, I present explicitly the results of an analysis of the endogenous practical logic of the dialectical alongside the results of an analysis of the non-classical logic of the dialectical (while upholding in each analysis the viewpoint of the other, albeit mostly implicitly). Thus, analyzing abductive inference in the perspective of the problems of theories of structures of self-mediation, the article summarizes the chances that this inference provides for thinking multidimensionally of the metamorphoses of magic and disenchantment as a special case of the more general problem of both the operation and mutual mediation of functionally differentiated and functionally diffuse structures.

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