This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Explanation is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
An explanation is a description which clarify causes, context, and consequences of a certain object, and a phenomenon such as a process, a state of affairs. This description may establish rules or laws, and may clarify the existing ones in relation to an object, and a phenomenon examined. The components of an explanation can be implicit, and be interwoven with one another.
An explanation is often underpinned by an understanding that is represented by different media such as music, text, and graphics. Thus, an explanation is subjected to interpretation, and discussion.
In scientific research, explanation is one of the purposes of research, e.g.,exploration and description. Explanation is a way to uncover new knowledge,and to report relationships among different aspects of studied phenomena.
Some types of explanations are:
- Deductive-nomological
- Functional
- Historical
- Psychological
- Reductive
- Teleological
- Methodological
See also
- Abductive reasoning
- Cogency
- Epistemology
- Explanandum and Explanans
- Inductive reasoning
- Inquiry
- Knowledge
- Scientific method
- Unexplained
- Rationalization
External links
- http://www.iep.utm.edu/e/explanat.htm at The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Scientific Explanation
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 22 June 2008, at 06:44.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Explanation".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.