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Full Idea
What theoretical scientific explanation aims at is an objective kind of insight that is achieved by a systematic unification, by exhibiting the phenomena as manifestations of common underlying structures and processes that conform to testable principles.
Gist of Idea
Scientific explanation aims at a unifying account of underlying structures and processes
Source
Carl Hempel (Philosophy of Natural Science [1967], p.83), quoted by Laurence Bonjour - The Structure of Empirical Knowledge 5.3
Book Ref
Bonjour,Laurence: 'The Structure of Empirical Knowledge' [Harvard 1985], p.99
A Reaction
This is a pretty good statement of scientific essentialism, and structures and processes are what I take Aristotle to have had in mind when he sought 'what it is to be that thing'. Structures and processes give stability and powers.
| 22179 | Explanatory facts also predict, and predictive facts also explain [Hempel, by Okasha] |
| 6755 | For Hempel, explanations are deductive-nomological or probabilistic-statistical [Hempel, by Bird] |
| 17083 | The covering-law model is for scientific explanation; historical explanation is quite different [Hempel] |
| 13052 | Hempel rejects causation as part of explanation [Hempel, by Salmon] |
| 21507 | Scientific explanation aims at a unifying account of underlying structures and processes [Hempel] |