Naturalizing Logic: How Knowledge of Mechanisms Enhances Inductive Inference

This paper naturalizes inductive inference by showing how scientific knowledge of real mechanisms provides large benefits to it. I show about contributes generalization, the best explanation, causal inference, and reasoning with probabilities. Generalization from some A are B all is more plausible when a mechanism connects B. Inference explanation strengthened explanations mechanistic explanatory hypotheses themselves mechanistically explained. Causal in medical counterfactual reasoning, analogy also benefit connections. Mechanisms help problems concerning interpretation, availability, computation