INFERENCE
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1645 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Human sciences, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
- “The production of one or more beliefs or assumptions by one or more other beliefs or assumptions” (R.L. ACKOFF & F.E. EMERY, 1972, p.113)
But, to begin with, wherefrom came the first beliefs or assumptions? Cultural nurturing seems to play an important role in the ways “… signs denote what they do on the three principles of resemblance, contiguity and causality” (C.S. PEIRCE, in 1991, p.80).
In any case, the recursive definition given by ACKOFF and EMERY is justified as follows by these authors: “… there is a set of beliefs and assumptions that the subject is willing initially to accept as true. These beliefs and assumptions contain only elements of the system and are expressible consistently with the formation rules. These rules constitutes the premises of the system. In a deductive system these premises may be axioms or postulates; in an inductive system they may be a set of accepted facts or observations” (Ibid).
This implies an important caveat for any systems modelization: Inference is related to habit formation and habit formation leads to uncritical attitudes.