Single Idea 20058

[catalogued under 14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / g. Causal explanations]

Full Idea

Not all explanation is causal. Explaining the beauty of a painting is not explaining why something happened. or why a move in chess is illegal, or why the square root of two is not a rational number.

Gist of Idea

Not all explanation is causal. We don't explain a painting's beauty, or the irrationality of root-2, that way

Source

Rowland Stout (Action [2005], 5 'Argument')

Book Reference

Stout,Rowland: 'Action' [Acumen 2005], p.73


A Reaction

It is surely plausible that the illegality of the chess move is caused (or 'determined', as I prefer to say) by the laws created for chess. The painting example seems right, though; what determined its configuration (think Pollock!) does not explain it.