Overview

The merits of this book are first and foremost the combination of theory and practice, then the presentation of a philosophical dialogue between prominent authors in the field: Peter Lipton and Wesley C. Salmon, who present in a conciliatory spirit opposing views of explanation. Finally the book features an interdisciplinary account of the application of explanation in philosophy, philosophy of science, psychology, perception, cognition, social sciences, political science, and aesthetics. There is currently a great interest in thiskind of interdisciplinary collection of papers, not only among students and researchers of philosophy of science, but also among psychologists and social scientists. The interdisciplinary character of the book should attract readers from various fields of research. Practicing scientists and students who are interested in a particular field of study, should also find in this book insightful theoretical analyses of explanation. The aim of the book is to shed light on the very concept of explanation and to examine its application in diverse settings.

Full Product Details

Author:   Giora Hon ,  Sam S. Rakover
Publisher:   Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Imprint:   Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Edition:   2001 ed.
Volume:   302
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   1.480kg
ISBN:  

9781402000171

ISBN 10:   1402000170
Pages:   346
Publication Date:   30 November 2001
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: The Why and How of Explanation: an Analytical Exposition.- 1. Theoretical Approaches.- What Good is An Explanation?.- Explanation and Confirmation: A Bayesian Critique of Inference to the Best Explanation.- Is Explanation A Guide to Inference? A Reply to Wesley C. Salmon.- Reflections of A Bashful Bayesian: A Reply to Peter Lipton.- Knowledge and Explanation in Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics.- 2. Applications.- The Explanation of Emotions.- The Deductive-Reconstruction Method and the Catch Model: Methodological and Explanatory Features.- Explaining Religious Utterances by Taking Seriously Super-naturalist (and Naturalist) Claims.- Explanation in Archaeology.- Can Psychological Processes Be Explained? A Call for A Revitalized Behaviorism.- The Use of Error as An Explanatory Category in Politics.- Are There Aesthetic Explanations?.- Name Index.

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