Explanations

Question 1

Explanation

What can be explained?

Answer 1

Events

Properties

Action

Question 2

Explanation

Explanandum

Explanans

Answer 2

Property, state of affairs that calls for explanation

Statement that provides the explanation

Question 3

Explanation

Deductive-Nomological Explanation

Answer 3

How it works

• Initial conditions and covering law as premises
• Explanandum as conclusion

Requirements

• Explanans includes a universal law
• Law has empirical content
• All statements are true

Problems

• Asymmetry

Question 4

Explanation

Mechanistic Explanation

Answer 4

Explanation in Neuroscience and Biology
* No laws of nature
* No deduction

Explanandum
* Higher level phenomenon

Explanans
* Lower level mechanism

Question 5

Explanation

Reductive Explanation

Answer 5

Explanation of higher level properties on the basis
of lower level laws and properties

Higher level theory gets reduced if its explanatory
achievements are taken over by lower level theory

First, find a functional definition for the higher-level property.
Then, construct an account using lower-level property terms that satisfies this functional role.
The reductive explanation is complete.

Question 6

Explanation

Emergentism

Answer 6

A property of a system is said to be emergent if it is a new outcome of some other properties of the system and their interaction, while it is itself different from them.

Emergent properties, laws and principles, appear when a system is studied at a higher level of organization (holistic instead of atomic level). They often show a high level of complexity, despite the fundamental principles that regulate the components of the system being simple.

Emergent properties are not identical with, reducible to, or deducible from the other properties. The different ways in which this independence requirement can be satisfied lead to variant types of emergence.