Smart Inductive Generalizations are Abductions

To postpone entanglements with the abundant confusions surrounding various uses of the term “abduction,” for which Peirce himself seems to be largely responsible, and to proceed as directly as possible to engage the basic logical and computational issues, let us begin by examining a pattern of inference I will call “inference to the best explanation” and abbreviate as “IBE” (“IBEs” for the plural).1