Explanation and understanding in history

Rex Martin

pp. 305-334

in: Juha Manninen, Raimo Tuomela (eds), Essays on explanation and understanding, Berlin, Springer, 1976

Abstract

One of the main themes of von Wright's book Explanation and Understanding is the claim that "the practical syllogism provides the sciences of man with… an explanation model in its own right [and one] which is a definite alternative to the subsumption-theoretic covering law model". He continues, "Broadly speaking, what the subsumption-theoretic [or Hempelian D-N] model is to causal explanation and explanation in the natural sciences, the practical syllogism is to teleological explanation and explanation in history and the social sciences" (EU, 27).¹