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Single Idea 13597
[filed under theme 14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / c. Explanations by coherence
]
Full Idea
An acceptable explanation must have some unifying power.
Gist of Idea
Good explanations unify
Source
Brian Ellis (Scientific Essentialism [2001], 3.11)
Book Ref
Ellis,Brian: 'Scientific Essentialism' [CUP 2007], p.132
A Reaction
There is a tension here, between the particular and the general. If I say 'why did the building collapse' and you say 'gravity', you have certainly got a unifying explanation, but we want something narrower.
The
14 ideas
with the same theme
[explanation by showing how it fits into other beliefs]:
17061
|
Explanation of a fact is fitting it into a system of beliefs
[Smart]
|
17074
|
Explanations are bad by fitting badly with a web of beliefs, or fitting well into a bad web
[Smart]
|
17076
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Deducing from laws is one possible way to achieve a coherent explanation
[Smart]
|
13597
|
Good explanations unify
[Ellis]
|
16184
|
An explanation is a model that fits a theory and predicts the phenomenological laws
[Cartwright,N]
|
16811
|
An explanation unifies a phenomenon with our account of other phenomena
[Lipton]
|
13071
|
We can go beyond mere causal explanations if we believe in an 'order of being'
[Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
|
17064
|
1: Coherence is a symmetrical relation between two propositions
[Thagard, by Smart]
|
17065
|
2: An explanation must wholly cohere internally, and with the new fact
[Thagard, by Smart]
|
17066
|
3: If an analogous pair explain another analogous pair, then they all cohere
[Thagard, by Smart]
|
17067
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4: For coherence, observation reports have a degree of intrinsic acceptability
[Thagard, by Smart]
|
17068
|
5: Contradictory propositions incohere
[Thagard, by Smart]
|
17069
|
6: A proposition's acceptability depends on its coherence with a system
[Thagard, by Smart]
|
14913
|
We explain by deriving the properties of a phenomenon by embedding it in a large abstract theory
[Ladyman/Ross]
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