Explanation and Understanding (eBook)

Arnon Levy (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2025
222 Seiten
Taylor & Francis (Verlag)
978-1-351-79170-0 (ISBN)

Infos

Science has multiple goals: to describe the world, as it is now; to predict the future and to make inferences about the past. Science also aims to understand the world - to explain why it is the way it is. But what does it take to explain a phenomenon? How does science generate understanding and what does that take?In this thorough and clearly written introduction to scientific explanation, Arnon Levy explores the following problems and questions: the background to the topic of scientific explanation, particularly the questions of what an explanation is, what makes a good explanation and why seek them in the first place empiricism about explanation: Hempel's deductive-nomological model and its problems unificationism about explanation: must good scientific explanations fit into an overall 'explanatory store'? causation and explanation: Lewis's description-based model, Woodward's interventionist view and Strevens's criterion of selection theory connections between explanation and understanding models, idealization and explanation non-causal explanation and explanation in non-scientific contexts the nature of understanding. Additional features, such as chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading and a glossary, make this an excellent resource for students of philosophy of science, metaphysics and epistemology.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.6.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Erkenntnistheorie / Wissenschaftstheorie
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Metaphysik / Ontologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften
• ISBN-10: 1-351-79170-2 / 1351791702
• ISBN-13: 978-1-351-79170-0 / 9781351791700