Full Idea
According to the causal model of explanation, to explain a phenomenon is simply to give information about its causal history, or, where the phenomenon is itself a causal regularity, to give information about the mechanism linking cause and effect.
Gist of Idea
To explain is to give either the causal history, or the causal mechanism
Source
Peter Lipton (Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd) [2004], 03 'Fact')
Book Reference
Lipton,Peter: 'Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd ed)' [Routledge 2004], p.30
A Reaction
[He cites Lewis's 1986 paper] Simply citing causal regularity seems to me to explain nothing. It happened because it always happens. Mechanism, on the other hand, is just what we are after.