Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Charles Darwin, Hartry Field and Bryan van Norden

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2 ideas

14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / a. Types of explanation
Beneath every extrinsic explanation there is an intrinsic explanation [Field,H]
     Full Idea: A plausible methodological principle is that underlying every good extrinsic explanation there is an intrinsic explanation.
     From: Hartry Field (Science without Numbers [1980], 5)
     A reaction: I'm thinking that Hartry Field is an Aristotelian essentialist, though I bet he would never admit it.
14. Science / D. Explanation / 3. Best Explanation / a. Best explanation
A false theory could hardly rival the explanatory power of natural selection [Darwin]
     Full Idea: It can hardly be supposed that a false theory would explain, in so satisfactory a manner as does the theory of natural selection, the several large classes of facts above specified.
     From: Charles Darwin (The Origin of the Species [1859], p.476), quoted by Peter Lipton - Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd) 11 'The scientific'
     A reaction: More needs to be said, since the whims of God could explain absolutely everything (in a manner that would be somehow less that fully satisfying to the enquiring intellect).