Doing Philosophy by Williamson Timothy;

Author:Williamson, Timothy;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2018-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

Inference to the Best Explanation

The methods philosophy needs for choosing between rival theories need not be so different from the more theoretical methods of natural science. We want the theory that best explains whatever evidence we can get. The method of choosing between theories on that basis is called inference to the best explanation. It is widely used in both natural science and philosophy.

Some people find the word ‘explanation’ too narrow, because they associate it with explaining why some event happened, by identifying its cause: not all theoretical explanations in science do that. For example, Isaac Newton (1643–1727) explained previous laws of terrestrial motion (about objects on earth) and celestial motion (about the planets) by deriving both from more basic laws of motion in general. Basic laws don’t cause less basic ones, because laws aren’t events—laws don’t happen. Newton explained the less basic laws by unifying them under very simple but informative generalizations. Although most philosophical theories lack the mathematical power and clarity of Newton’s laws, they too can be compared with each other by similar criteria, such as simplicity, informativeness, generality, unifying power, and fit with evidence. That general way of choosing between theories is called abduction.

5. What best explains these?

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