What does Holmes have to do with philosophy of science?
Today, I am going to talk about Sherlock Holmes and his relationship with philosophy of science. Since my talk is going to be something like background music, hopefully, for your lunch, I have chosen a rather light topic instead of a heavy dose of philosophy of science. To begin with, let me briefly outline what I am going to say. Of course you know who Sherlock Holmes is, although you may not know in detail what he did and what he said. Everyone knows that he was a very good detective and solved many difficult problems in criminal investigations. Everyone knows that he was an expert of reasoning and observation, so that he could frequently tell, on his first acquaintance with you, who you are and what you do, or where you come from, just by looking at you. [By the way, do you believe that Sherlock Holmes exists? If you believe that, you are a Sherlockian!] But how many of you know that he was a good logician, namely, a logician according to the standard of the late 19th century? If yo
