Rethinking Explanation

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XIV

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2. THEORY OF EXPLANATION

   1. Front Matter

      Pages I-XIV

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   2. EXPLANATIONS ARE ABOUT CONCEPTS AND CONCEPT FORMATION

      • BENGT HANSSON

      Pages 3-11

   3. WHAT TO ASK OF AN EXPLANATION-THEORY

      • HENRIK HÅLLSTEN

      Pages 13-26

   4. THE IDEA OF CONTRASTIVE EXPLANANDUM

      • PETRI YLIKOSKI

      Pages 27-42

   5. THE PRAGMATIC-RHETORICAL THEORY OF EXPLANATION

      • JAN FAYE

      Pages 43-68

   6. CAUSAL EXPLANATION PROVIDES KNOWLEDGE WHY

      • OLAV GJELSVIK

      Pages 69-92

   7. CAUSAL EXPLANATION AND MANIPULATION

      • STATHIS PSILLOS

      Pages 93-107

   8. ASSESSING THE EXPLANATORY POWER OF CAUSAL EXPLANATIONS

      • ERIK WEBER, JEROEN VAN BOUWEL

      Pages 109-118

   9. SOME NOTES ON UNIFICATIONISM AND PROBABILISTIC EXPLANATION

      • REBECCA SCHWEDER

      Pages 119-128

3. ISSUES IN EXPLANATION

   1. Front Matter

      Pages I-XIV

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   2. SELECTION AND EXPLANATION

      • ALEXANDER BIRD

      Pages 131-136

   3. IBE AND EBI

      • JOHANNES PERSSON

      Pages 137-147

   4. EXPLAINING WITH EQUILIBRIA68

      • JAAKKO KUORIKOSKI

      Pages 149-162

   5. EXPLANATION AND ENVIRONMENT

      • ANNIKA WALLIN

      Pages 163-175

   6. BIOLOGICAL NOTIONS OF INNATENESS AND EXPLANATION OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

      • MIKA KIIKERI, TOMI KOKKONEN

      Pages 177-192

   7. ASPECT KINDS

      • ROBIN STENWALL

      Pages 193-203

4. Back Matter

   Pages 205-219

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This volume is a product of the international research project Theory of Explanation, which was funded by the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (NOS-HS). The project started in 2001 and operated for a period of three years by organizing a number of workshops on scientific explanation in Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Finland. The workshops included presentations by people involved in the project and by invited guests. Both groups are represented in this volume, which brings together some of the papers presented in these meetings. The central theme of the research project was scientific explanation, but it was approached from many different angles. This plurality of approaches is also visible in the present volume. The authors share a joint interest in explanation, but not the same theoretical or methodological assumptions. As a whole, this volume shows that, although the theory of explanation has been a major industry within philosophyof science, there are still both conceptual problems to be solved and fresh philosophical ideas to explore. The papers in this volume have been divided into two broad groups. Part 1 consists of papers dealing with general issues in the theory of explanation, while the papers in Part 2 focus on some more specific problems. Part 1: Theory of Explanation

• knowledge
• philosophy of science
• science

From the reviews:

"‘Rethinking Explanation’ is Volume 152 of the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. … The writing style of all chapters, though ‘academic’, is clear, intelligible, comparatively jargon-free for philosophy-suave readers … . The present book … indicate that inasmuch as all scientific/technological and humanistic knowledge domains retain a rapid expansion into all phases of society there is a great demand for modern approaches ‘to explain’." (Karl H. Wolf, International Journal of General Systems, 2008)

• Lund University, Sweden

  JOHANNES PERSSON

• University of Helsinki, Finland

  PETRI YLIKOSKI

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