Counterfactual Based Innovation: A Galois Lattice Approach of Creative Thinking

Abstract

Counterfactual reasoning is a form of modal reasoning about the way things could be (have been, would be) in contrast to reasoning about the way things actually are (were). This form of reasoning is elusive and provides reasoning bias. However, in the framework of a cognitive science theory that advocate that people reason using factual categories, counterfactuals being category counterfactuals, seen as same level collateral complementary categories of the factual category, provide a basis for innovation processes that differs from analogical thinking and case-based theory. The modeling shows how to implement tools for innovative solutions using Galois lattices and contextual graphs.