Hypotheses and geomorphological reasoning

Geomorphology is a way of thinking about the surface of planet Earth. Controlled experimentation, in the manner of pure physics, is not possible for most geomorphological concerns. Thus, much of conventional analytical philosophy of science, which is based on the exemplar of experimental physics, fails to portray important aspects of geomorphological reasoning. This is particularly true of hypothesizing, which was recognized by Gilbert, Chamberlin, and Davis as a central methodological concern of geomorphology. Geomorphological reasoning largely relies upon retroductive inference, which Charles S. Peirce described as 'the spontaneous conjectures of instinctive reason'. Because it reasons from real effects to real causes, eventually colligating (bring together) facts under a conceptual scheme (hypothesis), retroduction bridges the gulf between nature and mind. Geomorphological indices, such as landforms and sediments, are signs for which causative processes are inferred retroductively. Though superficially similar to lucky 'guessing', retroductive inference succeeds in generating fruitful hypotheses (some of them outrageous) because the human mind is instinctively attuned to certain aspects of nature. This instinctive propensity in science to 'guess right', which Galileo called ii lume naturale, may derive from fundamental properties of the universe and mind that modern cosmologists have named the 'anthropic principle'.