Explanation, Understanding, and Subjectivity
ABSTRACT: Many theorists of explanation from Hempel onward have worked with the explicit or implicit assumption that considerations of the subjective sense of understanding should be kept out of the formulation of a proper theory of explanation. They claim that genuine understanding of an event comes only from being in an appropriate cognitive relation to the true explanation of that event. I argue that considerations of the subjective sense of understanding cannot be completely removed from the process of formulating and justifying an acceptable theory of explanation. Although understanding is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for an explanation, understanding is necessary as an initial guide to the nature of explanation. The widespread method of providing counterexamples for criticizing theories of explanation presupposes that there is a neutral method of identifying at least some clear cases of explanation and some clear cases of non-explanations. I argue that the only plausible method to fill this role relies essentially on the subjective sense of understanding. Objective validation of judgments about explanatoriness comes only through a complex process of social correction of our initial intuitive judgments regarding explanation.
It is clear that understanding and explanation are related. It is unclear exactly how they are related. We speak both of explaining-why and understanding-why some event occurred. Explanations typically produce understanding in those who consider them, and the sense of increased understanding typically comes from consideration of an explanation. Consideration of an explanation can, however, fail to produce in someone an increased level o...
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...3-256. Reprinted in Explanation, ed. David Hillel-Ruben, 160-181. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
1989. "Explanation and Metaphysical Controversy." In Scientific Explanation, ed. Philip Kitcher and Wesley C. Salmon, 220-252. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
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As a way to communicate additional information to the audience, Barbara Ehrenreich provided statistical data in the footnotes of certain pages. Although these statistics are not
... the same thing that Searle does in his work: intentionality. I do not think that understanding synonymous with intentionality. In fact, I think that intentionality is the only definite way to get out of the double bind and still prove the Chinese room argument to be true. Intentionality is not a form of understanding, but rather seems to be a form of consciousness that is something a human can explain, but not ascribe to something else.
..., M., Oort, F., & Sprangers, M. (2013). Significance, truth and proof of p values:
The final chapter of this book encourages people to be critical when taking in statistics. Someone taking a critical approach to statistics tries assessing statistics by asking questions and researching the origins of a statistic when that information is not provided. The book ends by encouraging readers to know the limitations of statistics and understand how statistics are
R. M. Ogilvie. Preface and Additional Material by S.P. Oakley. London: Penguin Books, 2003. Matthews, Roy T., F. De Witt Platt, and Thomas F. X. Noble. I am a naysayer.
A paralegal new to the field has many options as far as career opportunities. One major decision for a paralegal pursuing a career at a law firm is whether or not to seek employment at a small or large firm. Taking into consideration some of the pros and cons of both small and large firms will give oneself an understanding on which to set their criteria for their final decision.
Cause and effect is a tool used to link happenings together and create some sort of explanation. Hume lists the “three principles of connexion among ideas” to show the different ways ideas can be associated with one another (14). The principles are resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect. The focus of much of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding falls upon the third listed principle. In Section I, Hume emphasizes the need to uncover the truths about the human mind, even though the process may be strenuous and fatiguing. While the principle of cause and effect is something utilized so often, Hume claims that what we conclude through this process cannot be attributed to reason or understanding and instead must be attributed to custom of habit.
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Children in their adolescents years watch a great amount of TV each week and it is almost inevitable that they will start to be influenced by what they see on their television. They will see diffe...
Crier, Catherine. The case against lawyers: how lawyers, politicians, and bureaucrats have turned the law into an instrument of tyranny, and what we as citizens have to do about it. New York: Broadway Books, 2002. Print. It tell you how lawyers become lawyer and the steps that is takes to become a lawyer
Most American's would agree that children watch a lot of TV. It's common to see a child sitting in front of the TV on a Saturday morning with their Coco Pebbles watching their favorite superhero. This sounds harmless enough. However, many parents and teachers across the country are worried about the cartoons their children are watching. They feel that the cartoons have become too violent and are having negative long-term effects on children. It is common to see young boys pretending to shoot one another, while jumping on the couch and hiding in closets as a sort of make-believe fort. But parents say that children are learning these behaviors from cartoons and imitating them. Others however, disagree, they say that violence in cartoons does not effect children and that children need this world of fantasy in their lives. They say that children would show these same behaviors regardless of the content of the cartoons they watch.
Search engines, specifically Google, have probably contributed more to the distribution of knowledge than any other invention since the creation of the printing press. Google was created by Larry Page and Serge...
Career as a lawyer is very respectful as they serve to maintain the law and order. They are responsible for providing justice to the innocent and punishment to the offenders. Career as Lawyer on one side is challenging and risky but on the other side, it is prestigious and honorable as well.
Every fact has an explanation: there are no inexplicable facts. There is a reason (or cause) for everything. For every existence and non-existence things there must be assigned a cause, or reason. For example, if a tree exists, there must be a reason or cause why it exists; but if it doesn’t exist, there must also be a reason or cause which prevents it from existing, or which takes its existence away.