Functionalism (philosophy of mind)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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- To give a sufficiently detailed report about (a) the reason for something, about why something happened, about a causal chain of events; about (b) how something works, about how elements in a system interact; about (c) how to do something, about the steps which need to be accomplished in order to accomplish a certain goal.
- To give a valid excuse for some past behavior.
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.
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.
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.
Some types of explanations are:
- Deductive-nomological
- Functional
- Historical
- Psychological
- Reductive
- Teleological
- Methodological
See also
- Abductive reasoning
- Cogency
- Epistemology
- Explanandum and Explanans
- Inductive reasoning
- Inquiry
- Knowledge
- Scientific method
- Unexplained
- Rationalization
