Abel Questions Chapter 10: Scientific Explanations

1. How does Science explain a fact? Please use the entire explanation on. p. 91 and 92.
Science explains a fact by putting it in a general law from which, along with the particular conditions involved, the fact to be explained may be logically deduced. Therefore:
-the pond froze because the water temperature dropped below 32˚F, and water freezes at 32˚F or less.
-The pipe rusted because it was made of iron, which chemically combines with the oxygen in the air.
-The water pipes burst last winter because water expands when it freezes.
-Bert caught malaria because he was bitten by an anopheles mosquito which is a carrier for malaria.
-There was an eclipse of the sun because of the laws of gravitation and the orbits of the planets.
In each if the above listed, the fact is explained by being comprehended under, and derived from, a general law. The scientist explains what happens by devising concepts to describe a particular experience, and supplying a framework of covering laws from which, in conjunction with the specific conditions involved, we may make inferences about what it is that we want explained.

2. What are some common misconceptions about scientific explanations? How does Abel refute each one?
The common misconceptions about scientific explanations Abel gives, and refutes are:
- "science describes rather than explains." Abel says that there is no fine line between description or explanation, but he asks that if the scientific explanation is only really a description, then what is an explanation?
-"science explains the strange by the familiar." Abel says that actually the reverse is true. Familiar phenomena like rust and family resemblance are caused by unfamiliar concepts like oxidation or genes.
-"scientific explanation is not the same as 'understanding.'" Abel says that the understanding is more like knowledge by acquaintance or like knowing how, rather than science.
-"a scientific explanation need not be a casual law." Abel says that is may be a law of simultaneous existence, rather succession.

3. What does Abel mean when he says: "a law in turn may be explained by another law of wider scope; the greater the generality, the better the explanation." (p. 93)?
What Abel means is that the more general the law, the more specific laws it can encompass, so there is a more depth to the explanation that is being provided.

4. What does Abel mean when he says: "Explanation is always relative to a given knowledge situation; you must stop somewhere." (p. 94)?
What Abel means is that the information in the explanation is relative to the situation, because you can't possibly give all the information in that explanation, and not all of the information is necessary. For example, if you were in New York City, and you asked someone where the Empire State Building, they're not going to tell you it's in NYC, because it's not relevant in the situation.

5. Why are explanatory reductions "economical ways of describing phenomena." (p. 95)?
They are "economical ways of describing phenomena," because they are not actually reducing processes, but combining some processes with others in order to have a more succinct term for the compunds, and save time on explanations.

6. Why does scientific explanation require the concept of system?
Scientific explanation requires the concept of system because a concept may be describe in terms of another concept, but those concepts do not always add up to the overall ideal. In order to understand the overall ideal, one must sometimes understand the other concepts which make up the system of the overall ideal.