Evaluating explanatory theories Brian Haig advocates 'inference to the best explanation', a method used by Darwinand of relevance for theory appraisal in psychology

摘要

Explanatory theories in psychologyare usually evaluated by employingthe hypothetico-deductive methodand testing them for their predictiveaccuracy. The purpose of this short articleis to bring an alternative approach, knownas 'inference to the best explanation'(IBE), to the attention of psychologists. Indoing so, it provides some methodologicalresources on the topic that psychologistscan use to help them evaluate theexplanatory worth of their theories.Despite the fact that IBE has beenemployed by a number of scientists(Janssen, 2003) – Darwin and Einsteinamong them – and extensively discussedby philosophers of science (e.g. Lipton,2004), it has received little attention inpsychology. Given that IBE is animportant approach to theory appraisal,this is an omission that needs to beput right.