Content

Topic 2024-2025: Forms of Explanation in Science and Philosophy - Dr. Alejandro Fábregas Tejeda

What does it mean to explain an event or a larger phenomenon? What epistemic features underpin explanatory statements or construals (e.g., models) as opposed to those that are not taken to be explanatory? What, if anything, sets scientific explanations apart from other forms of explanation? Should all explanations involve uncovering and tracing causal relations between explananda and explanantia? Can mathematics explain natural phenomena on its own, or does it function solely as a powerful instrumental aid in explanatory endeavors? By which criteria and standards can we assess that a particular explanation is actually a good explanation and not a flawed one? What is the relationship between explanation, prediction, and understanding? How do philosophers appeal to explanation in their discursive practices, for instance, when doing metaphysics or metaethics?

These questions, among many others, comprise the problem space of the ‘philosophy of explanation’ (broadly construed). This seminar will explore some of the most salient debates and central standpoints regarding explanation that have emerged in analytic philosophy and the philosophy of science in recent decades. We will cover ontological, epistemological and axiological issues involved in the construction and interpretation of diverse kinds of explanations. In particular, we will focus on scientific explanations (including mathematical explanations) and philosophical explanations (especially metaphysical explanations).

To help students select and develop a research topic for their Bachelor’s Paper, we will read and discuss texts on the following subjects: different accounts of scientific explanation, including the Deductive-Nomological Model, the Statistical Relevance model, unificationism, and causal, counterfactual, and mechanistic approaches; contrasting conceptions of explanation (ontic vs. eikonic conceptions); explaining with and through mathematics; contrastive explanation, explanatory standards and values, and the pragmatics of explaining; explanatory pluralism in the natural and social sciences (e.g., historical explanations); explanation as a common practice in philosophy (e.g., in ethical theorizing); and controversies surrounding explanation in analytic metaphysics, such as separatism vs. unionism, generation approach vs. reduction approach, and realism vs. anti-realism of metaphysical explanation.

Throughout the seminar, we will consider various examples and case studies from multiple disciplines. Students are encouraged to draw upon their own expertise to provide additional examples for enriching the discussions.

Course material

Syllabus with links to articles and chapters: available via Toledo.

Format: more information

In the seminars, students will be guided in the process of writing their Bachelor's Paper. Students write their paper on a subject that falls within the scope of the yearly theme. The theme facilitates student interaction in the seminars. 

Attendance to all seminar sessions is mandatory! A student who is repeatedly absent for illegitimate reasons can be denied further access to class by the teacher of the course.

In the first semester there will mainly be text seminars. Students prepare for these seminars by closely reading the assigned papers, formulating questions, etc. Specific seminars help students to define their Bachelor's paper project. At the latest two weeks before the Christmas break, students should submit a complete project description (subtopic, abstract, with a relatively well-defined research question, preliminary bibliography, etc.)

In the second semester, students mainly focus on writing the paper, guided by the instructor or another member of the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS). All students taking the course 'Bachelor's Paper with Seminar' should attend a collective session on writing skills and the requirements for a good BA paper at the beginning of the semester.

During the second semester, students also have to deliver two presentations about their results (the first presentation is meant to be a try-out for the second one). Students participate in the discussion of the presentations of other students. Comments made during the discussion are to be integrated into their text. At the end of the second semester, they should submit their final paper.

Students should read and follow the following guidelines:

• Specific guidelines with regard to the course "Bachelor's Paper with seminar"
• HIW General guidelines for written work
• HIW guidelines with regard to plagiarism

For the research skills, a coursebook will be made available through the Toledo community Online Writing Lab (author: Griet Galle). Information sessions on research, writing, and presentation skills will also be organized.

Content

Students write a paper (minimum 6250 and maximum 7500 words, table of contents, footnotes and bibliography not included) on one of the topics offered in the seminar. For information on the requirements for the paper and submission deadlines, please see the website of the Bachelor's Paper with Seminar.

Format: more information

Writing the paper includes:
-        doing library research;
-        reading and processing of primary and secondary literature;
-        writing a one-page proposal;
-        writing a first draft, taking into account the remarks of fellow students and the teacher;
-        writing the final draft, taking into account the remarks made by fellow students and the teacher. The seminars are organized to guide students through the process of writing. In addition, students can contact the teacher for individual feedback.

Students should read and follow the following guidelines:

• Specific guidelines with regard to the course "Bachelor's Paper with seminar"
• HIW General guidelines for written work
• HIW guidelines with regard to plagiarism

Is also included in other courses

• W0W42A : Bachelor's Paper with Seminar: Phenomenology and Philosophical Anthropology
• W0W43A : Bachelor's Paper with Seminar: Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy
• W0W44A : Bachelor's Paper with Seminar: Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
• W0W45A : Bachelor's Paper with Seminar: Metaphysics and Philosophy of Culture