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Single Idea 16850

[filed under theme 14. Science / D. Explanation / 1. Explanation / a. Explanation ]

Full Idea

Explanation is a partial answer to the descriptive problem of induction, …but the justificatory problem is recalcitrant, since it may seem particularly implausible that explanatory considerations should be a reliable guide to truth.

Gist of Idea

Explanation may describe induction, but may not show how it justifies, or leads to truth

Source

Peter Lipton (Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd) [2004], 09 'Voltaire's')

Book Ref

Lipton,Peter: 'Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd ed)' [Routledge 2004], p.142

A Reaction

His claim that explanation is a guide to inference is intended to bridge the gap. One might say that a good explanation has to be true, so just make sure your explanation is 'good', according to a few criteria.

The 18 ideas with the same theme [general ideas about the concept of explanation]:

11385 Universal principles are not primary beings, but particular principles are not universally knowable [Aristotle]
12367 What is most universal is furthest away, and the particulars are nearest [Aristotle]
12380 Universals are valuable because they make the explanations plain [Aristotle]
12385 Are particulars explained more by universals, or by other particulars? [Aristotle]
11243 Aristotelian explanations are facts, while modern explanations depend on human conceptions [Aristotle, by Politis]
21473 All knowledge and explanation rests on the inexplicable [Schopenhauer]
17086 Surprisingly, empiricists before Mill ignore explanation, which seems to transcend experience [Mill, by Ruben]
15831 Explanations have states of affairs as their objects [Chisholm]
8347 Explanations typically relate statements, not events [Davidson]
14470 Explanatory exclusion: there cannot be two separate complete explanations of a single event [Kim]
17081 Usually explanations just involve giving information, with no reference to the act of explanation [Ruben]
11951 Hume allows interpolation, even though it and extrapolation are not actually valid [Molnar]
16850 Explanation may describe induction, but may not show how it justifies, or leads to truth [Lipton]
15005 Explanations must cite generalisations [Sider]
15692 People tend to be satisfied with shallow explanations [Gelman]
6754 We talk both of 'people' explaining things, and of 'facts' explaining things [Bird]
6752 The objective component of explanations is the things that must exist for the explanation [Bird]
17324 'Because' can signal an inference rather than an explanation [Liggins]