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abduction

SECOND EDITION 1989

(æbdkn)  [ad. L. abductin-em n. of action f. abdcre; cf. Fr. abduction: see ABDUCE.] 

    A leading or drawing away, in var. senses of vbs. abduce and abduct. In Johnson 1773, with no quot., but much earlier in Anat. and Logic.

    1. A leading away.

1626 COCKERAM, Abduction: a leading away. 1873 Times Sept. 9 Increased abduction of the stream by the water companies.

    2. The act of illegally carrying off or leading away anyone, such as a wife, child, ward, voter. Applied to any leading away of a minor under the age of sixteen, without the consent of the parent or guardian; and the forcible carrying off of any one above that age.

1768 BLACKST. Comm. IV. IV. xv. §9. 218 The other offence, that of kidnapping, being the forcible abduction or stealing away of a man, woman, or child from their own country, and sending them into another, was capital by the Jewish law. 1833 Penny Cycl. I. 19/1 The forcible abduction and marriage of women is a felony. 1835 THIRLWALL Greece I. v. 153 In the abduction of Helen, Paris repeats an exploit attributed to Theseus.

    3. The muscular withdrawal of a limb or other part of the body outward from the medial line.

1666 J. SMITH Solomon's Portr. Old Age (1676) 62 If we consider how they [the muscles] can stir the limb inward and outward, they can perform adduction, abduction. 1787 A. FYFE Compend. of Anat. (1815) I. II. 294 Pyriformis [Muscle]..Action: To assist in the Abduction of the Thigh, and in its rotation outwards. 1836 TODD Cycl. An. & Ph. I. 156/1 Those motions of inclination of the foot known under the names of adduction and abduction..take place in the joints of the tarsus.

    4. Surg. The separation of contiguous parts after a transverse fracture, causing the gaping of a wound, the recession of the two parts of a broken bone, etc.

1753 CHAMBERS Cyc. Supp. s.v., This Abduction is the same with what Greek writers call or ..some Latin writers call it abruptio. 1879 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v.

    5. Logic. A syllogism, of which the major premiss is certain, and the minor only probable, so that the conclusion has only the probability of the minor; apagoge.

1696 PHILLIPS, Abduction is an Argument which leads from the conclusion to the demonstrations of the hidden and not signified Proposition. 1766 SCOTT Dict. Arts. & Science Abduction, in logic a form of reasoning called by the Greeks apagoge, in which the greater extreme is evidently contained in the medium, but the medium not so evidently in the lesser extreme. 1872 GROTE Aristotle I. vi. 290 After adverting to another variety of ratiocinative procedure, which he calls Apagoge or Abduction..Aristotle goes on to treat of Objection generally.

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DRAFT ADDITIONS MARCH 2010

    abduction, n.

   Chiefly Philos. Originally in the writings of C. S. Peirce (U.S. philosopher and logician, 1839-1914): the formation or adoption of a plausible but unproven explanation for an observed phenomenon; a working hypothesis derived from limited evidence and informed conjecture. Also called RETRODUCTION n. 3 and inference to the best explanation.
  Pierce viewed abduction as the first phase of scientific reasoning and methodology. Abduction is followed by deduction (DEDUCTION n. 6) to determine what specific evidence would prove such a hypothesis, then induction (INDUCTION n. 7) to extrapolate a general principle from specific findings.

c1901 C. S. PEIRCE Coll. Papers (1958) VII. Bk. II. iii. 122 A hypothesis..has to be adopted which is likely in itself, and renders the facts likely. This step of adopting a hypothesis as being suggested by the facts, is what I call abduction. 1960 J. K. FEIBLEMAN Introd. to Peirce's Philos. iii. 122 If we enter a room containing a number of bags of beans and a table upon which there is a handful of white beans, and if, after some searching, we open a bag which contains white beans, we may infer as a probability, or fair guess, that the handful was taken from this bag. This sort of inference is called making an hypothesis or abduction. 1984 Times Lit. Suppl. 2 Nov. 1257/3 All science functions either by conjecture or by abduction. 2006 W. RAMROTH Project Managem. for Design Professionals 68 Most decisions must be made with incomplete information, and abduction is the only inference tool that works when the information is incomplete.

   spec. A reported paranormal experience in which a person claims to have been surreptitiously abducted by extraterrestrial beings; this alleged phenomenon; freq. in alien abduction, UFO abduction. Cf. ABDUCT v., ABDUCTEE n.

[1966 J. G. FULLER Interrupted Journey xii. 280 Doctor: Were you abducted? Barney: Yes. I don't want to believe I was abducted.] 1967 Time 4 Aug. 40/2 Barney and Betty Hill..whose ‘abduction’ by saucermen during an auto trip was described in the fast-selling book. 1988 New Scientist 10 Mar. 70/1 UFO abductions.., in which witnesses claim to have been taken aboard a flying saucer, subjected invariably to a humiliating physical examination, and then released, remain mostly an American phenomenon. 1995 Fortean Times June-July 47/1 Albert Budden showed slides of ærials and told us that alien abduction experiences were an allergic reaction to electronic smog. 2000 Hist. Today (Electronic ed.) Jan., While the US has by far the most abduction reports, followed by South America, the phenomenon in Britain dates from the mid-1970s.

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