Inference to the Only Explanation

In the above loveliness is a qualitative character that is distinct from a quasi-quantitative assessment of likeliness or probability. Indeed, the point of IBE is that loveliness is a guide to likeliness. In chapter 5 Lipton presents a case study, Semmelweis's investigation of puerperal (or childbed) fever, which permits a comparison with Hempel's discussion of the same case in support of his hypothetico-deductive account of confirmation. One interesting feature of Lipton's presentation is that loveliness is not discussed. This is because, as Lipton says, Semmelweis converted his problem into the question of the only explanation of the contrastive facts (p. 90). In what follows I want to explore the prospects for regarding Lipton's framework as permitting an account of abductive inference in which Inference to the Only Explanation plays a central role. It might be thought that Lipton himself, as just reported, has given at least an example of Inference to the Only Explanation. But, as we