Concepts of Scientific Explanation

FAIN: FS-10764-78

Peter Achinstein
Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD 21218-2608)

Three general approaches to scientific explanation will be considered: (1) formalistic accounts, (2) contextual viewpoints, and (3) historical relativism. Among the issues to be treated are the validity of criticisms of these approaches, the relationship between explanation and prediction, whether absolute standards of scientific explanation are possible, and the ontological character of an explanation.