Paul Thagard and the inference to the best explanation

Abstract

This article aims to provide an introduction to the Portuguese translation of Paul Thagard’s “Inference to the Best Explanation: Criteria for Choice Theory.” In this article, Thagard assumes the epistemological value of the argument of inference to the best explanation and posits three criteria for the choice of scientific theories: consilience, simplicity and analogy. In this presentation of this essential article for the development of inference to the best explanation, we have restructured, in the first section, Thagard’s concept. Then, in the second section, we suggest some philosophical discussions on science based on Thagard’s proposal. In the conclusion, we place Thagard’s contribution within the debate realism/antirealism, relating it to a neutral epistemological stance on this debate.