explaining/explanation |
Working Definition:
Explaining describes a necessary outcome of an event or sequence of events.
An explanation is the expression that articulates a necessary outcome of an event or sequence of events. Scientific explanations set the parameters for the replicability of experiments.
Disciplinary Definitions:
"explanation, an act of making something intelligible or undersandable, as when we explain an event by show why or how it occurred." Audi, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Comments:
In the context of C-CS, I associate explaining with offering facts that are considered true, hence the sense of necessity. There is no doubt, however, that what is claimed to be or regarded as an explanation can be false. Offering a falsehood as an explanation is a common occurence but has no bearing on the working definition. If I believes an explanation, then I am disposed to act in a way that takes it into account as factual.
Notes
One of the common senses of "explain" is "3. (7) excuse, explain -- (serve as a reason or cause or justification of; "Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work"; "Her recent divorce may explain her reluctance to date again")" Wordnet. I reserve this sense for the term, "justify."
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last revised:
June 13, 2007
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