Inferring and Explaining

ChaPter one Valuing Truth To say that democracy is a space of reasons is to say that the practice of demo- cratic politics requires the giving and acting for reasons. Tat is, in a democratic state, disagreements between citizens ought to be handled in the arena of reason alone, and arguments legitimizing the uses of state power must be backed by rea- sons. And crucially, the “reasons” spoke of are reasons for believing what is true , as opposed to reasons for what will win us the election, make us rich, or damn our enemies. In short, to think of democracy as a space of reasons is to see the ideals of democratic politics as requiring a commitment to the rational pursuit of truth. —mIchael lynch 1 A Lofty Goal and a Practical Goal Tis book has two major goals. One is to invite you—no, really to implore you—to enter what Michael Lynch calls the “arena of rea- son.” Lynch’s quote may suggest that politics is where reason and truth are most important. I completely agree with him that democratic politics is one area of our lives that requires attention to the ideals of truth and good reason. But I think he would agree with me that lots of other intellectual afairs—the pursuits of sci- ence and medicine, the demands of a profes- sion, and the immensely complicated problems of a meaningful personal life, to name just a few—are equally dependent on the standards of the arena of reason. Te other goal is to give you a tool for navi- gating within the arena of reason. I wish I could give you amagic bullet for discovering the truth, but I think we all know that’s only a fairy tale. What I do believe, however, is that there are some very useful techniques for approaching, if not discovering, the truth.Tis bookwill empha- size one of these methods. It has the technical name inference to the best explanation , but more on that later. Right now, I’ll simply describe it 1