Scientific Explanation

In Scientific Explanation. Elsevier. pp. 302-307 (2015)
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Abstract

There are three main approaches to scientific explanation in the philosophical literature. The unification approach claims that science explains by fitting the particular facts and events within a general theoretical framework. The mechanistic approach claims that science explains by identifying mechanisms. According to the manipulationist approach an explanation ought to be such that it can be used to answer a “what-if-things-had-been-different question.” The article examines whether these three approaches are compatible or not in the case of the social sciences, and it concludes by defending explanatory pluralism.

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original Mantzavinos, C. (2001) "Scientific Explanation". In Wright, James, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition), pp. 302-307: Elsevier (2001)

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C. Mantzavinos
University of Athens

Citations of this work

Scientific Pluralism.Ludwig David & Ruphy Stéphanie - 2021 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Text Interpretation as a Scientific Activity.C. Mantzavinos - 2014 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 45 (1):45-58.

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