Abstract

A general theory of explanation is presented and used in an interpretation of particle mechanics. In this interpretation the distinction between kinematics and dynamics is seen as a special instance of the distinction between the descriptive and the explanatory functions in the theory of explanation. This is shown to allow for interpretations of certain other central concepts in mechanics, in particular in analytical mechanics, and of certain laws and relationships in mechanics. ;A concept of natural contradiction and one of an explanation space are introduced within the general theory of explanation. A variational principle for natural contradictions is derived for the conceptually most primitive case. When applied to a description of a physical object in terms of particle mechanics the explanation space is shown to be isomorphic to the phase space. The quantity of natural contradictions along a path in the phase space is shown to be measured as the action along that path and the variational principle for natural contradictions is shown to assume the form of Hamilton's principle. ;An interpretation of particle mechanics, called the two-description interpretation, is presented. In it the physical object under consideration is described in two ways: using a finite language adapted to the theory of explanation in its conceptually most primitive form and using the mathematical language of particle mechanics. It is assumed that the natural contradictions of the former description manifest themselves as mechanistic natural contradictions in the latter description of the same object and that the former description is independent of the spatio-temporal relationship that obtains between the object and the observer . From these assumptions certain central concepts, functional expressions, space-time transformations and dynamical relationships of mechanics are derived. The "quantum mechanical rule" of Feynman's path-integral formulation of quantum mechanics is given an interpretation in this model