7 Scientific explanation
The major aim of science is generation of knowledge in the form of scientific theories and laws, semantic and mathematical models as well as catalogues of empirical facts and recipes for solving practical problems. Since the time of Aristotle, philosophers have continued to agree that a fundamental distinction should be drawn between two kinds of scientific knowledge: descriptive knowledge and explanatory knowledge1. Ancient astronomers already knew that each planet periodically reverses the direction of its motion with respect to the background of fixed stars, but only astronomers of modern times were able to explain why. Since methodologies for generation of knowledge refer to explanatory power of various forms ...
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