Non-causal Explanations in the Humanities: Some Examples.

Area of Science:

• Philosophy of Science
• Humanities Research Methods
• Epistemology

Background:

• Philosophical theories of explanation have predominantly focused on the natural sciences, particularly the causal theory of explanation.
• Recent scholarship acknowledges the existence of respectable non-causal explanations within scientific disciplines.
• The nature of explanations in the humanities, beyond the causal framework, remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To broaden the discussion of explanation to include phenomena in the humanities (history, linguistics, literary theory, archaeology).
• To investigate whether explanations in the humanities align with the causal theory of explanation.
• To identify and categorize distinct types of non-causal explanations prevalent in the humanities.

Main Methods:

• Conducted an exploratory survey of acclaimed humanities textbooks.
• Identified and analyzed explicitly stated explanations within the surveyed texts.
• Categorized the identified explanations based on their theoretical underpinnings.

Main Results:

• Non-causal explanations are an integral component of the humanities.
• Identified three distinct kinds of non-causal explanations: teleological, formal, and normative.
• These findings indicate a diversity of explanatory strategies beyond the causal model in humanistic scholarship.

Conclusions:

• The humanities employ a variety of non-causal explanatory frameworks.
• The identified types (teleological, formal, normative) challenge the sufficiency of the causal theory of explanation.
• These humanistic explanations provide robust support for the concept of explanatory pluralism.