Framing Deceptive Dynamics in Terms of Abductive Cognition
Vol.21,No.1(2020)
I propose an analysis of deception as the activity of intentionally misleading other agents’ hypothetical inferences. Understanding deception in this way has the advantages of clarifying the epistemological and cognitive dynamics involved in deception. Indeed, if deception can be framed as the intentional manipulation of others’ hypothetical inferences so that they will accept the false or disadvantageous hypotheses, then a better understanding of the epistemological and cognitive dynamics involved in deception will emerge by clarifying how abduction works. Tracing it back to Peirce’s analysis, I will focus on recent perspectives on abduction, which stress the inherent strategic character of abductive cognition and offer a realistic description of the reasoners’ capabilities and their scant resources, both internal (computational power) and external (time and information available). To support and substantiate my thesis, I will examine psychological analyses of military deception. I will conclude by remarking the advantages of the thesis here presented to better understand the epistemological dynamics of deception and by highlighting the questions it leaves open for further investigations.
abductive reasoning; hypothetical reasoning; deception; counterdeception; intelligence analysis; Peirce
[1] De Certeau, M. (1984): The Practice of Everyday Life, University of California Press.
[2] Elkman, P. (1985): Telling Lies Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage, Norton & Company.
[3] Feyerabend, P. (1993): Against Method, Verso.
[4] Gabbay D. M., Woods, J. (2005): The Reach of Abduction, Insight and Trial, Elsevier,
[5] Heuer, Jr. R. J. (1999): Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, Center for the study of intelligence.
[6] Holt, T. (2010): The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War, Skyhorse.
[7] Lloyd, M. (1999): The Art of Military Deception, Pen and Sword.
[8] Liddell Hart, B.H. (1967): Strategy: The Indirect Approach, Faber & Faber.
[9] Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
[10] Magnani, L. (2015): Naturalizing logic, Logic Journal of IGPL, 13-36, available at: < https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jal.2014.11.001 >. | DOI 10.1016/j.jal.2014.11.001
[11] Magnani, L. (2017): The Abductive Structure of Scientific Creativity, Springer.
[12] Magnani, L. (2018): The Urgent Need of a Naturalized Logic. Philosophies, 3-44. available at: < https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies3040044 >. | DOI 10.3390/philosophies3040044
[13] Mahon, J. (2018): Contemporary Approaches to the Philosophy of Lying, in Meibauer J. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Lying, Oxford University Press, 32-55, available at: < https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198736578.013.3 >. | DOI 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198736578.013.3
[14] Marsili N. (2018): Lying and Uncertainty in Meibauer, J. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Lying, Oxford University Press, 32-55, available at: < 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198736578.013.12>.
[15] Mitchell, W. L. (2016): The Art of Deception and the Role of Intelligence Education, International Studies Association Annual Conference.
[16] Paavola, S. (2004): Abduction as a logic and methodology of discovery: The importance of strategies, Foundations of Science 9: 267. available at: < https://doi.org/10.1023/B:FODA.0000042843.48932.25 >. | DOI 10.1023/B:FODA.0000042843.48932.25
[17] Peirce, C.S. (1931-1958): The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Harvard University Press.
[18] Reichenbach, H. (1977): The Philosophical Significance of the Theory of Relativity, in Schilpp, P. A. (ed.) Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist, Open Court Pub Co.
[19] Rein, C. M. (ed.) (2018): Weaving the Tangled Web, Military Deception in Large Scale Combat Operations, Army University Press.
[20] Stanley D. E. Nyrup R. (forthcoming): Strategies in Abduction: Generating and Selecting Diagnostic Hypotheses, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy.
[21] Whaley, B. (2006): Detecting Deception: A Bibliography Of Counterdeception Across Time, Cultures, And Disciplines, Foreign Denial & Deception Committee.
[22] Whaley, B. (2007): Stratagem, Deception and Surprise in War, Artech House.
[23] Whaley, B. (2016): Practise to Deceive, Learning Curves of Military Deception Planners, Naval Institute Press (Kindle edition).
[24] Woods, J. (2012): Cognitive economics and the logic of abduction, The Review of Symbolic Logic 5(1), 148-161, available at: < https://doi.org/10.1017/S175502031100027X > | DOI 10.1017/S175502031100027X
[25] Woods, J. (2013): Errors of Reasoning Naturalizing the Logic of Inference, College Publications.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2020 Francesco Fanti Rovetta