Philosophy
The Logic of Discovery and Abductive Reasoning in Science
Quick fact
Charles Sanders Peirce, the 19th-century philosopher, described abduction—or 'inference to the best explanation'—as the only logical operation that introduces new ideas, because it works backwards from a surprising observation to a hypothesis that would explain it, making it the engine of scientific creativity.
Why this is interesting
You notice the grass is wet in the morning. You immediately think it rained last night. But how did you leap from wet grass to rain, and is that leap logical?