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Rethinking Explanation

  • Book
  • © 2007

Overview

Editors:
  1. JOHANNES PERSSON

    1. Lund University, Sweden

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  2. PETRI YLIKOSKI

    1. University of Helsinki, Finland

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  • An important contribution to the debates about the nature of explanation
  • Highlights some recent advances in the theory of explanation
  • The authors reconsider some of the basic concepts in theories of explanation

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 252)

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-XIV
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  2. THEORY OF EXPLANATION

    1. Front Matter

      Pages I-XIV
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    2. EXPLANATIONS ARE ABOUT CONCEPTS AND CONCEPT FORMATION

      • BENGT HANSSON
      Pages 3-11

    3. WHAT TO ASK OF AN EXPLANATION-THEORY

      • HENRIK HÅLLSTEN
      Pages 13-26

    4. THE IDEA OF CONTRASTIVE EXPLANANDUM

      • PETRI YLIKOSKI
      Pages 27-42

    5. THE PRAGMATIC-RHETORICAL THEORY OF EXPLANATION

      • JAN FAYE
      Pages 43-68

    6. CAUSAL EXPLANATION PROVIDES KNOWLEDGE WHY

      • OLAV GJELSVIK
      Pages 69-92

    7. CAUSAL EXPLANATION AND MANIPULATION

      • STATHIS PSILLOS
      Pages 93-107

    8. ASSESSING THE EXPLANATORY POWER OF CAUSAL EXPLANATIONS

      • ERIK WEBER, JEROEN VAN BOUWEL
      Pages 109-118

    9. SOME NOTES ON UNIFICATIONISM AND PROBABILISTIC EXPLANATION

      • REBECCA SCHWEDER
      Pages 119-128

  3. ISSUES IN EXPLANATION

    1. Front Matter

      Pages I-XIV
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    2. SELECTION AND EXPLANATION

      • ALEXANDER BIRD
      Pages 131-136

    3. IBE AND EBI

      • JOHANNES PERSSON
      Pages 137-147

    4. EXPLAINING WITH EQUILIBRIA68

      • JAAKKO KUORIKOSKI
      Pages 149-162

    5. EXPLANATION AND ENVIRONMENT

      • ANNIKA WALLIN
      Pages 163-175

    6. BIOLOGICAL NOTIONS OF INNATENESS AND EXPLANATION OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

      • MIKA KIIKERI, TOMI KOKKONEN
      Pages 177-192

    7. ASPECT KINDS

      • ROBIN STENWALL
      Pages 193-203

  4. Back Matter

    Pages 205-219
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Keywords

About this book

This volume is a product of the international research project Theory of Explanation, which was funded by the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (NOS-HS). The project started in 2001 and operated for a period of three years by organizing a number of workshops on scientific explanation in Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Finland. The workshops included presentations by people involved in the project and by invited guests. Both groups are represented in this volume, which brings together some of the papers presented in these meetings. The central theme of the research project was scientific explanation, but it was approached from many different angles. This plurality of approaches is also visible in the present volume. The authors share a joint interest in explanation, but not the same theoretical or methodological assumptions. As a whole, this volume shows that, although the theory of explanation has been a major industry within philosophyof science, there are still both conceptual problems to be solved and fresh philosophical ideas to explore. The papers in this volume have been divided into two broad groups. Part 1 consists of papers dealing with general issues in the theory of explanation, while the papers in Part 2 focus on some more specific problems. Part 1: Theory of Explanation

Reviews

From the reviews:

"‘Rethinking Explanation’ is Volume 152 of the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. … The writing style of all chapters, though ‘academic’, is clear, intelligible, comparatively jargon-free for philosophy-suave readers … . The present book … indicate that inasmuch as all scientific/technological and humanistic knowledge domains retain a rapid expansion into all phases of society there is a great demand for modern approaches ‘to explain’." (Karl H. Wolf, International Journal of General Systems, 2008)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Lund University, Sweden

    JOHANNES PERSSON

  • University of Helsinki, Finland

    PETRI YLIKOSKI

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