Part 7: Explanations and causes Flashcards
Natural law:
A scientific law, usually thought to capture fundamental relationships in the natural world.
Law-like generalization:
A generalization based on empirical evidence which appears to capture regularities in a way similar to how a law does.
Deductive nomological account of explanation:
An account of what an explanation is that is based on deduction from laws and initial conditions.
Explanandum:
What is to be explained.
Conditional claim:
A claim involving the logical operator “if”, for instance of the form “If A then B”. (See also section 2.)
Cause:
Something which produces a change in another object or in another event.
Causal account of explanation:
An account of explanation where causes are used as the explanans (what provides the explanation).
Singular causal explanation:
The explanation of a singular phenomenon or event by stating particular events as causes in the explanans.
Explanandum (explananda):
What is to be explained.
Explanans (explanantia):
What provides the explanation.
Singular explanandum:
A singular event, phenomenon or property is to be explained.
General explanandum:
A general event, phenomenon or property is to be explained.
Singular explanans:
The explanation is provided by a number of particular events, phenomena and properties.
General explanans:
The explanation is provided by a regularity or a law.
Explanatory virtue:
A property of an explanation which makes it a good explanation.
Accuracy (explanations):
The explanation is true.
Precision of the explanandum:
The contrast featured in the explanandum is precisely stated.
Precision in the explanans:
The contrast featured in the explanandum is reflected in the explanans.
Non-sensitivity:
The explanans is not sensitive to small changes in circumstances, so that the causal chain in the explanans is not too long.
Cognitive salience:
The explanation is easy to understand.
Contributing cause:
X is a contributing cause of Y with respect of a set of background variables if there is a causal chain, each link of which is a direct cause extending from X to Y. Thus in (A), although X is not a direct cause of Y, it is a contributing cause of Y.
Causal scenario:
A description of the causal chains in a situation or in a system, such as A causing B, B causingA, or C causing both A&B.
Common cause:
Two phenomena are caused by the same phenomenon.
Instrumental variable analysis:
Determining causal relationships from data.
