# Scientific Explanations ## Reduction of the Known to Unknown Pure scientific [Explanation](Explanations.md) is paradoxical: it's the "reduction of the known to the unknown," explaining known facts or theories by assumptions of a higher level of universality that still need testing. Causal explanation, specifically, involves deducing a singular statement describing the event to be explained (the effect or 'explicandum') from universal statements (laws) in conjunction with singular statements describing initial conditions (the 'cause')[^3]. > [!quote] > The problem of explanation itself. It has often been said that scientific explanation is reduction of the unknown to the known. If pure science is meant, nothing could be further from the truth. It can be said without paradox that scientific explanation is, on the contrary, the reduction of the known to the unknown. In pure science, as opposed to an applied science which takes pure science as 'given' or 'known', explanation is always the logical reduction of hypotheses to others which are of a higher level of universality; of 'known' facts and 'known' theories to assumptions of which we know very little as yet, and which have still to be tested. The analysis of degrees of explanatory power, and of the relationship between genuine and sham explanation and between explanation and prediction, are examples of problems which are of great interest in this context. ## Logical Content and Explanation Logical Content and Explanation: The relationship between explanation and logical content is much deeper and more central to the nature of scientific theories. Deduction is key: Scientific explanation is fundamentally linked to deduction. An explanation shows how the phenomenon to be explained (described by a singular statement) can be logically deduced from explanatory premises (universal laws and initial conditions). The "argumentative or explanatory function" of language is derived from a "logical analysis of explanation and its relation to deduction (or argument)". Explanatory Power and Content: The explanatory power of a theory is directly related to its empirical content. The more empirical content a theory has (the more it "forbids" or rules out about the empirical world), the more testable it is, and thus the greater its potential explanatory power if it withstands severe tests. While [Description](Description.md) involves statements that possess logical content (meaning they have logical consequences), scientific explanation actively uses the logical content of universal laws and initial conditions within a deductive structure to show how a described phenomenon logically follows. --- Date: 20250506 Links to: Tags: References: * []() [^3]: [Conjectures and Refutations](Conjectures%20and%20Refutations.pdf) pg 83