What is the logical process used by Sherlock Holmes called?

zbeckabee

Abduction is a logical analytical process, but it isn't "science." Abduction is pattern recognition, or proof by process of conformance or elimination. It's the process used by Sherlock Holmes... Nowhere is the power of abductive thinking made clearer than in Eco and Sebeok's book, The Sign of Three, (1983) which compares Peirce's approach to thinking with the reasoning of two great detectives Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Poe's Dupin. The reasoning approach used by detectives in crime fiction is very similar to the interpretive process of abduction which has been described as "educated guessing toward a hypothesis." In both cases the process begins with observations and then proceeds in a back-and-forth process of developing hypotheses and comparing the observations with information known and filed in memory. http://spot.colorado.edu/~moriarts/abduction.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abductive_reasoning http://firechief.com/mag/firefighting_experts_new_clothes/ Jun 13 08, 11:44 AM

elburcher

Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. He is the creation of Scottish-born author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A brilliant London-based detective, Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess, and is renowned for his skillful use of "deductive reasoning" while using abductive reasoning (inference to the best explanation) and astute observation to solve difficult cases. Deductive reasoning is reasoning which uses deductive arguments to move from given statements (premises), which are assumed to be true, to conclusions, which must be true if the premises are true.[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deductive_reasoning http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes Jun 13 08, 12:47 PM

star_gazer

As an interesting side note Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary my dear Watson." http://www.snopes.com/quotes/signature/elementary.asp Jun 13 08, 4:18 PM

author

Hypothetico-deductive method. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetico-deductive Jun 13 08, 6:43 PM