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Single Idea 17061

[filed under theme 14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / c. Explanations by coherence ]

Full Idea

I want to characterise explanation of some fact as a matter of fitting belief in this fact into a system of beliefs.

Gist of Idea

Explanation of a fact is fitting it into a system of beliefs

Source

J.J.C. Smart (Explanation - Opening Address [1990], p.02)

Book Ref

'Explanation and Its Limits', ed/tr. Knowles,Dudley [CUP 1990], p.2

A Reaction

Sounds good to me. Simple facts slot straight into daily beliefs, and deep obscure facts are explained when we hook them up to things we have already grasped. Quark theory fits into prior physics of forces, properties etc.

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 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 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]