Explanation and Understanding

✍ Scribed by G.H. von Wright

• Publisher: Kegan Paul International
• Year: 1971
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 253
• Series: International library of philosophy and scientific method
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This volume distinguishes between two main traditions in the philosophy of science - the aristotelian, with its stress on explanation in terms of purpose and intentionality, and the galilean, which takes causal explanation as primary. It then traces the complex history of these competing traditions as they are manifested in such movements as positivism, idealism, Marxism and contemporary linguistic analysis. Hempels's theory of scientific explanation, the claims of cybernetics the rise of an analytic philosophy of action and the revival of hermenuetics are all discussed. The volume also deals with causal explanation, intentionality and teleological explanation, and explanation in history and the social sciences. The author concludes that explanation of human actions cannot be reduced to simple causality, and discusses the implications of this conclusion for the disciplines of history and sociology.

✦ Table of Contents

Half Title......Page 1
Series Title......Page 2
Title Page......Page 3
Copyright......Page 4
Dedication......Page 5
Preface......Page 7
Contents......Page 11
I. Two Traditions......Page 21
II. Causality and Causal Explanation......Page 54
III. Intentionality and Teleological Explanation......Page 103
IV. Explanation in History and the Social Sciences......Page 152
I. Two Traditions......Page 189
II. Causality and Causal Explanation......Page 203
III. Intentionality and Teleological Explanation......Page 212
IV. Explanation in History and the Social Sciences......Page 219
References......Page 227
D......Page 243
M......Page 244
Y......Page 245
C......Page 246
E......Page 247
M......Page 248
T......Page 249
W......Page 250
International Library of Philosophy & Scientific Method......Page 252