abductive reasoning

Argument – Attempt to persuade or to determine the truth of a conclusion

argumentation theory – Study of how conclusions are reached through logical reasoning; one of four rhetorical modes

Attribution (psychology) – The process by which individuals explain the causes of behavior and events

Critical thinking – The analysis of facts to form a judgment

defeasible reasoning – Reasoning that is rationally compelling, though not deductively valid

Douglas N. Walton – Canadian academic

duck test – Classification based on observable evidence

Gregory Bateson – English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist

Heuristic – Problem-solving method that is sufficient for immediate solutions or approximations

Inductive probability – Determining the probability of future events based on past events

Maximum likelihood estimation – Method of estimating the parameters of a statistical model, given observations

Occam's razor – Philosophical principle of selecting the solution with the fewest assumptions

sensemaking – Process by which people give meaning to their collective experiences

Sign relation – Concept in semiotics