Description
Book SynopsisOur lives, states of health, relationships, behaviour, experiences of the natural world, and the technologies that shape our contemporary existence are subject to a superfluity of competing, multi-faceted and sometimes incompatible explanations. Widespread confusion about the nature of ''explanation'' and its scope and limits pervades popular exposition of the natural sciences, popular history and philosophy of science. This fascinating and intriguing book explores the way explanations work, why they vary between disciplines, periods, and cultures, and whether they have any necessary boundaries. In other words, Explanations aims to achieve a better understanding of explanation, both within the sciences and the humanities. It features contributions from expert writers from a wide range of disciplines, including science, philosophy, mathematics, and social anthropology.
Trade ReviewI recommend this book to all readers interested in philosophy and sociology of science. * Andrzej Stasiak, EMBO Reports *
Table of ContentsPreface ; List of contributors ; Introduction ; 1. What good is an explanation? ; 2. Can science explain everything? Can science explain anything? ; 3. Explaining the universe ; 4. Does physics rule the roost of scientific explanation? ; 5. Mathematical explanation ; 6. Ponderable matter: explanation in chemistry ; 7. The biology of the future and the future of biology ; 8. Teleology: the explanation that bedevils biology ; 9. What is it not like to be a brain? ; 10. Ontology and scientific explanation ; 11. From explanation to interpretation in social anthropology ; 12. Passing it on: redescribing scientific explanation ; Index
