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Single Idea 14367

[from 'Making Things Happen' by James Woodward, in 14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / g. Causal explanations ]

Full Idea

On Woodward's manipulationist view, an explanation would take the form of a causal graph.

Gist of Idea

An explanation is a causal graph

Source

report of James Woodward (Making Things Happen [2003]) by Michael Strevens - No Understanding without Explanation 1


A Reaction

The idea is that causation is all to do with how nature responds when you try to manipulate it. I'm certainly in favour of tying explanation closely to causation.