Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

1. Conceptual analysis of abduction -- 2. Knowledge-based systems and the science of AI -- 3. Two RED systems -- abduction machines 1 and 2 -- 4. Generalizing the control strategy -- machine 3 -- 5. More kinds of knowledge: Two diagnostic systems -- 6. Better task analysis, better strategy -- machine 4 -- 7. The computational complexity of abduction -- 8. Two more diagnostic systems -- 9. Better task definition, better strategy -- machine 5 -- 10. Perception and language understanding -- Appendix A: Truth seekers -- Appendix B: Plausibility.

This book is about abduction, 'the logic of Sherlock Holmes', and about how some kinds of abductive reasoning can be programmed in a computer. The work brings together Artificial Intelligence and philosophy of science and is rich with implications for other areas such as, psychology, medical informatics, and linguistics. It also has subtle implications for evidence evaluation in areas such as accident investigation, confirmation of scientific theories, law, diagnosis, and financial auditing. The book is about certainty and the logico-computational foundations of knowledge; it is about inference in perception, reasoning strategies, and building expert systems.