Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Coherence and Explanations

  • Published:
Erkenntnis Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The article advocates a particular coherence theory of justification that emphasizes the significance of explanatory relations. It is shown that other approaches to coherence have failed because they underestimate the importance of explanatory theories in forming a system of beliefs. Additionally, a conception of explanation as a unifying substantial embedding of models is sketched that closely conforms with the proposed theory of coherence.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Balzer, W., C. U. Moulines and J. D. Sneed: 1987, An Architectonic for Science. D. Reidel, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartelborth, T.: 1996a, Begründungsstrukturen. Ein Weg durch die analytische Erkenntnistheorie. Akademie Verlag, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartelborth, T.: 1996b, ‘Scientific Explanation’, in W. Balzer and C. U. Moulines, Structuralist Theory of Science. Focal Issues, New Results. De Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 23-43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanchard, B.: 1941, The Nature of Thought, Vol. 2. Macmillan, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • BonJour, L.: 1985, The Structure of Empirical Knowledge. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M.: 1974, ‘Explanation and Scientific Understanding’, Journal of Philosophy 71, 519.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harman, G.: 1986, Change in View. Principles of Reasoning. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitcher, P.: 1976, ‘Explanation, Conjunction and Unification’, Journal of Philosophy 73, 207-212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehrer, K.: 1990a, ‘The Coherence Theory of Knowledge’, in Metamind, Oxford, Clarendon Press, pp. 226-250. Original in Philosophical Topics 14, 525.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehrer, K.: 1990b, Theory of Knowledge. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ray, C.: 1991, Time, Space and Philosophy. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salmon, W. C.: 1989, ‘Four Decades of Scientific Explanation’, in P. Kitcher and W. C. Salmon (eds.), Scientific Explanation, Minneapolis: Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, pp. 3-219.

  • Thagard, P.: 1989, ‘Explanatory Coherence’, Behavioural and Brain Sciences 12, 435-467.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Insitut für Logik und, Wissenschaftstheorie Universität Leipzig, Augustusplatz 9, 04109, Leipzig E-mail

    Thomas Bartelborth

Authors
  1. Thomas Bartelborth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bartelborth, T. Coherence and Explanations. Erkenntnis 50, 209–224 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005594409663

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005594409663

Keywords

Search

Navigation