Lost Abduction and Epistemic Barriers: Toward a Completion Model of Science Communication

Science communication theory assumes audiences begin from ignorance. This paper challengesthat assumption: audiences typically possess vulgar versions of scientific concepts—dilutedformulations retaining expert vocabulary while lacking foundational premises. When learnersholding vulgar versions encounter expert knowledge, they face denial costs that learners startingfrom ignorance do not. We term this barrier the epistemic barrier. The paper develops a taxonomy oflost premises (formal, measurement, mechanistic, scope, relational) and proposes "premisearchaeology" as a method for identifying and restoring them. We argue that the most consequentiallosses in contemporary civilization are abduction—the inferential process that generateshypotheses from surprising facts—and the skillful use of axioms. These learnable techniques havevanished from education and been re-attributed to "genius," mystifying what should be teachable.The paper concludes by proposing a shift from the translation model to a "completion" model ofscience communication that takes vulgar versions as its starting point.