An explanation is a description which clarify causes, context, and consequences of a certain object, and a phenomenon such as a process, a state of affairs. This description may establish rules or laws, and may clarify the existing ones in relation to an object, and a phenomenon examined. The components of an explanation can be implicit, and be interwoven with one another. Consequence can refer to:a good or a bad result of your actions. ... Process (lat. ... State of affairs has some technical usages in philosophy, as well as being a phrase in everyday speech in English. ... In logic, especially in mathematical logic, a rule of inference is a scheme for constructing valid inferences. ... This article is about a logical statement. ... Implicit 1. ...

An explanation is often underpinned by an understanding that is represented by different media such as music, text, and graphics. Thus, an explanation is subjected to interpretation, and discussion. Look up understanding in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In scientific research, explanation is one of the purposes of research, e.g.,exploration and description. Explanation is a way to uncover new knowledge,and to report relationships among different aspects of studied phenomena. A scientific method or process is considered fundamental to the scientific investigation and acquisition of new knowledge based upon physical evidence. ... Explorer redirects here. ... A phenomenon (plural: phenomena) is an observable event, especially something special (literally something that can be seen from the Greek word phainomenon = observable). ...

Some types of explanations are:

• Deductive-nomological
• Functional
• Historical
• Psychological
• Reductive
• Teleological
• Methodological

The D-N model is a formalisation of natural language scientific explanations. ... Functionalism is a theory of the mind in contemporary philosophy, developed largely as an alternative to both the identity theory of mind and behaviorism. ... Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = soul and logos = word) is the study of mind, thought, and behaviour. ... Teleology is the philosophical study of purpose (from the Greek teleos, perfect, complete, which in turn comes from telos, end, result). ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ...

See also

• Abductive reasoning
• Cogency
• Epistemology
• Explanandum and Explanans
• Inductive reasoning
• Inquiry
• Knowledge
• Scientific method
• Unexplained
• Rationalization

Abduction, or inference to the best explanation, is a method of reasoning in which one chooses the hypothesis that would, if true, best explain the relevant evidence. ... An argument is cogent if and only if the truth of the arguments premises would render the truth of the conclusion probable (i. ... Theory of knowledge redirects here: for other uses, see theory of knowledge (disambiguation) Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, knowledge + λόγος, logos) or theory of knowledge is a branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. ... Hempel and Oppenheim (1948) motivate the distinction between explanans and explanandum in order to answer why-questions, rather than simply what-questions: (p. ... Aristotle appears first to establish the mental behaviour of induction as a category of reasoning. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... For other uses, see Knowledge (disambiguation). ... -1... unexplained adj 1: not explained; accomplished by some unexplained process 2: having the reason or cause not made clear; an unexplained error From www. ... Look up Rationalization on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Rationalization can refer to more than one thing: In psychology, rationalization is the process of constructing a logical justification for a decision that was originally arrived at through a different mental process. ...

External links

• [http://www.iep.utm.edu/e/explanat.htm at The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Scientific Explanation