Is There A Monist Theory of Causal and Noncausal Explanations? The Counterfactual Theory of Scientific Explanation

Reutlinger, Alexander (2016): Is There A Monist Theory of Causal and Noncausal Explanations? The Counterfactual Theory of Scientific Explanation. In: Philosophy of Science, Bd. 83, Nr. 5: S. 733-745

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to develop a counterfactual theory of explanation (CTE). The CTE provides a monist framework for causal and noncausal explanations, according to which both causal and noncausal explanations are explanatory by virtue of revealing counterfactual dependencies between the explanandum and the explanans. I argue that the CTE is applicable to two paradigmatic examples of noncausal explanations: Euler's explanation and renormalization group explanations of universality.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft > Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP)
• ISSN: 0031-8248
• Sprache: Englisch