Abductive inference is a process of thought which introduces new ideas by means of forming explanatory hypotheses.Its cognitive mechanism is a similarity-based relevance and integration.And this characteristic is shared by metaphoric thought,one of the basic cognitive abilities for human survival.On the basis of their commonality,abductive inference can be applied to analyzing the formation and evolution of scientific metaphors.And in scientific practice,the formation of metaphoric hypothesis is the same as that of literal hypothesis,which is relying on the general steps of abductive inference,having truth conditions,and being falsifiable as well.Faced with the open unknown world,various metaphoric hypotheses will be improved or replaced in abductive inference that searches for the best explanation,which contributes to the continuous evolution of scientific theories.The comparative study of abductive inference and metaphoric thought can shed new light on certain essential characteristic of human thought.
