THE AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC AND INFERENCE TO THE BEST EXPLANATION (pages 409-432)

Michael J. SHAFFER

ABSTRACT: This paper shows how the availability heuristic can be used to justify inference to the best explanation in such a way that van Fraassen’s infamous “best of a bad lot” objection can be adroitly avoided. With this end in mind, a dynamic and contextual version of the erotetic model of explanation sufficient to ground this response is presented and defended.

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