Explanatory priority monism

Philosophical Studies 178 (4):1339-1359 (2020)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Explanations are backed by many different relations: causation, grounding, and arguably others too. But why are these different relations capable of backing explanations? In virtue of what are they explanatory? In this paper, I propose and defend a monistic account of explanation-backing relations. On my account, there is a single relation which backs all cases of explanation, and which explains why those other relations are explanation-backing.

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

2021

DOI

10.1007/s11098-020-01478-z

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 92,150

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

My notes

Similar books and articles

Backing Without Realism.Elanor Taylor - 2022 - Erkenntnis 87 (3):1295-1315.
Reductive Explanation in the Biological Sciences.Marie I. Kaiser - 2015 - Cham: Springer.
On explanatory relata in singular causal explanation.Eugen Zeleňák - 2009 - Theoria 75 (3):179-195.
Against explanatory realism.Elanor Taylor - 2018 - Philosophical Studies 175 (1):197-219.
Proclus' account of explanatory demonstrations in mathematics and its context.Orna Harari - 2008 - Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 90 (2):137-164.
Viewing-as explanations and ontic dependence.William D’Alessandro - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 177 (3):769-792.
Causes and Deductive Explanation.Raimo Tuomela - 1974 - PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1974:325 - 360.
Causal Relations and Explanatory Strategies in Physics.Andrew Wayne - 2015 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 29 (1):75-89.
Explanatory Depth.Brad Weslake - 2010 - Philosophy of Science 77 (2):273-294.
The directionality of distinctively mathematical explanations.Carl F. Craver & Mark Povich - 2017 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 63:31-38.
Manipulation is key: on why non-mechanistic explanations in the cognitive sciences also describe relations of manipulation and control.Lotem Elber-Dorozko - 2018 - Synthese 195 (12):5319-5337.
Symmetries and Explanatory Dependencies in Physics.Steven French & Juha Saatsi - 2018 - In Alexander Reutlinger & Juha Saatsi (eds.), Explanation Beyond Causation: Philosophical Perspectives on Non-Causal Explanations. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. 185-205.
Explanation and Understanding: An Alternative to Strevens’ D epth.Angela Potochnik - 2011 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 1 (1):29-38.
Het web-model.Annelli Janssen - 2019 - Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 111 (3):419-432.
Does the Counterfactual Theory of Explanation Apply to Non-Causal Explanations in Metaphysics?Alexander Reutlinger - 2016 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science:1-18.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-06-18

Downloads
147 (#128,324)

6 months
16 (#158,921)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Isaac Wilhelm
National University of Singapore

Citations of this work

Social Ontology.Brian Epstein - 2018 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Centering the Principal Principle.Isaac Wilhelm - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 178 (6):1897-1915.
Platonism and Intra-mathematical Explanation.Sam Baron - forthcoming - Philosophical Quarterly.
A Dormitive Virtue Puzzle.Elanor Taylor - forthcoming - In Alastair Wilson & Katie Robertson (eds.), Levels of Explanation. Oxford University Press.

View all 6 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Depth: An Account of Scientific Explanation.Michael Strevens - 2008 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Explaining the brain: mechanisms and the mosaic unity of neuroscience.Carl F. Craver - 2007 - New York : Oxford University Press,: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press.
No Work for a Theory of Grounding.Jessica M. Wilson - 2014 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 57 (5-6):535-579.

View all 36 references / Add more references