Abstract
This paper suggests that our everyday explanation talk exhibits a number of important dimensions of variation, then proposes a functionalist account of explanation to help accommodate them. The functional role of explanations is given in terms of answering why-questions, which in turn is spelled out in terms of the provision of information about non-inferential consequence. Realizers of the explanation role can be found by considering various consequence relations, including (for example) relations of causal and nomic consequence.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 61-84 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society |
Volume | 108 |
Issue number | 1 part 1 |
Early online date | 26 Mar 2008 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2008 |