Weber, Erik and Van Bouwel, Jeroen
(2009)
Causation, Unification, and the Adequacy of Explanations of Facts.
THEORIA. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science, 24 (3).
pp. 301-320.
ISSN 2171-679X
Abstract
Pluralism with respect to the structure of explanations of facts is not uncommon. Wesley Salmon, for instance, distinguished two types of explanation: causal explanations (which provide insight in the causes of the fact we want to explain) and unification explanations (which fit the explanandum into a unified world view). The pluralism which Salmon and others have defended is compatible with several positions about the exact relation between these two types of explanations. We distinguish four such positions, and argue in favour of one of them. We also compare our results with the views of some authors who have recently written on this subject.
| Item Type: |
Published Article or Volume
|
| Creators: |
|
| Additional Information: |
ISSN: 0495-4548 (print) |
| Keywords: |
Causal explanation, explanatory pluralism, unification |
| Depositing User: |
Users 15304 not found. |
| Date Deposited: |
24 Feb 2014 22:35 |
| Last Modified: |
11 Mar 2014 21:53 |
| Item ID: |
10353 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
THEORIA. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science |
| Publisher: |
Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea / Universidad del País Vasco |
| Official URL: |
http://www.ehu.es/ojs/index.php/THEORIA/article/vi... |
| DOI or Unique Handle: |
10.1387/theoria.698 |
| Date: |
2009 |
| Page Range: |
pp. 301-320 |
| Volume: |
24 |
| Number: |
3 |
| ISSN: |
2171-679X |
| URI: |
https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10353 |
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Altmetric.com
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[img]](https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png)
![[feed]](http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}