Explanation in the Social Sciences: Singular Explanation and the Social Sciences

Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 27:95-117 (1990)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Are explanations in the social sciences fundamentally different from explanations in the natural sciences? Many philosophers think that they are, and I call such philosophers ‘difference theorists’. Many difference theorists locate that difference in the alleged fact that only in the natural sciences does explanation essentially include laws.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,164

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-02-06

Downloads
40 (#375,657)

6 months
6 (#403,662)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

David-Hillel Ruben
Birkbeck, University of London

Citations of this work

Breaking the explanatory circle.Michael Townsen Hicks - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 178 (2):533-557.
The Power to Govern.Erica Shumener - 2022 - Philosophical Perspectives 36 (1):270-291.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The Logic of Scientific Discovery.Karl Popper - 1959 - Studia Logica 9:262-265.
Explanation and scientific understanding.Michael Friedman - 1974 - Journal of Philosophy 71 (1):5-19.
Laws of nature.Fred I. Dretske - 1977 - Philosophy of Science 44 (2):248-268.
Introduction” to his.D. Lewis - 1986 - Philosophical Papers 2.

View all 14 references / Add more references