Full Idea
Weber coined the distinction between explanation and clarification, saying that natural phenomena require causal explanation, while social phenomena require clarification by giving reasons or offering possible motives for how things are.
Gist of Idea
Nature requires causal explanations, but society requires clarification by reasons and motives
Source
report of Max Weber (works [1905]) by Simon Critchley - Continental Philosophy - V. Short Intro Ch.7
Book Reference
Critchley,Simon: 'Continental Philosophy - Very Short Intro' [OUP 2001], p.121
A Reaction
This is music to the ears of property dualists and other non-reductivists, but if you go midway in the hierarchy of animals (a mouse, say) the distinction blurs. Weber probably hadn't digested Darwin, whose big impact came around 1905.