Explanation
An Explanation is a logical statement that ...
- Context:
- It can range from being an Informal Explanation to being a Formal Explanation.
- It can be composed of an Explanans and an Explanandum.
- It can range from being a Good Explanation to being a Bad Explanation.
- …
- Example(s):
- “The thief took the Mona Lisa off the wall between Sunday evening and Tuesday morning, because the museum was closed and there would be no one there, and therefore he could take the painting without being caught."
- a Rationalization, Just-So Story, ...
- an Oversimplified Explanation.
- a Just-So Story.
- an AI Model-based Prediction Explanation (explainable AI).
- …
- Counter-Example(s):
- a Prediction.
- See: Explanation-Based Learning, Description, Causality, Logical Consequence, Rule of Inference, Axiom, Interpretation (Logic), Justification.
References
2017
- (Wikipedia, 2017) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/explanation Retrieved:2017-12-2.
- An explanation is a set of statements usually constructed to describe a set of facts which clarifies the causes, context, and consequences
of those facts.
This description of the facts ecetera may establish rules or laws, and may clarify the existing rules and/or laws in relation to any objects, or phenomena examined. The components of an explanation can be implicit, and be interwoven with one another.
An explanation is often underpinned by an understanding or norm that can be represented by different media such as music, text, and graphics. Thus, an explanation is subjected to interpretation, and discussion.
In scientific research, explanation is one of several purposes for empirical research. [1] [2] Explanation is a way to uncover new knowledge, and to report relationships among different aspects of studied phenomena. Explanation attempts to answer the "why" and "how" questions. Explanations have varied explanatory power. The formal hypothesis is the theoretical tool used to verify explanation in empirical research. [3] [4]
- An explanation is a set of statements usually constructed to describe a set of facts which clarifies the causes, context, and consequences
- ↑ Babbie, Earl (2007) The Practice of Social Research. (11th edition) Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth.
- ↑ Remler, D.K. and Van Ryzin, G (2011). Research Methods in Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- ↑ Shields, Patricia and Rangarjan, N. 2013. A Playbook for Research Methods: Integrating Conceptual Frameworks and Project Management. [1]. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press. See Chapter three for an extended discussion of the connection between explanation as purpose and hypotheses as framework in empirical research. .
- ↑ Patricia M. Shields, Hassan Tajalli (2006). “Intermediate Theory: The Missing Link in Successful Student Scholarship". Journal of Public Affairs Education 12 (3): 313–334.
2016
- (Wikipedia, 2016) ⇒ http://wikipedia.org/wiki/just-so_story Retrieved:2016-3-1.
- In science and philosophy, a just-so story, also called an ad hoc fallacy, is an unverifiable and unfalsifiable narrative explanation for a cultural practice, a biological trait, or behavior of humans or other animals. The pejorative nature of the expression is an implicit criticism that reminds the hearer of the essentially fictional and unprovable nature of such an explanation. Such tales are common in folklore and mythology (where they are known as etiological myths—see etiology).
This phrase was popularized by the publication in 1902 of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, containing fictional and deliberately fanciful tales for children, in which the stories pretend to explain animal characteristics, such as the origin of the spots on the leopard.
This phrase has been used to criticize evolutionary explanations of traits that have been proposed to be adaptations, particularly in the evolution–creation debates and in debates regarding research methods in sociobiology and evolutionary psychology.
However, academics such as David Barash state the term "just so story" when applied to a proposed evolutionary adaptation is simply a derogatory term for a hypothesis. Hypotheses, by definition, require further empirical assessment, and are a part of normal science. Similarly, Robert Kurzban suggested that "The goal should not be to expel stories from science, but rather to identify the stories that are also good explanations."
- In science and philosophy, a just-so story, also called an ad hoc fallacy, is an unverifiable and unfalsifiable narrative explanation for a cultural practice, a biological trait, or behavior of humans or other animals. The pejorative nature of the expression is an implicit criticism that reminds the hearer of the essentially fictional and unprovable nature of such an explanation. Such tales are common in folklore and mythology (where they are known as etiological myths—see etiology).
2011a
- http://www.uky.edu/~rosdatte/phi120/glossary.htm
- explanation: Explains why something is the case. An explanation is sometimes difficult to distinguish from an argument because it also involves reasons (and even "premise" indicator words) But, unlike an argument, where the conclusion is the "new" information, in an explanation, the statement being explained- - the explanandum, the part of the passage that looks like a conclusion. -- is usually a commonly accepted fact. The explanans, which can look like premises, are the "new" information in an explanation, whereas they are the accepted fact in an argument.
2011b
- http://www.philosophy.uncc.edu/mleldrid/logic/logiglos.html
- Explanation: An explanation identifies the cause of an event, thus answering the question why something is what it is or why it occurs. Explanations identify causal relationships. They tell why or how something happens.