[1] In philosophy, an explanation is a set of statements that renders understandable the existence or occurrence of an object, event, or state of affairs.
Among its most common forms are: Explanations of human behavior usually rely to the subject’s beliefs, desires and other relevant facts.
Thus an explanation of why the subject removed his coat might cite the fact that he felt hot and desired to feel cooler, and believed that he would feel cooler if he took off his coat.
It is thus assumed that there is a single kind or form of explanation that is “scientific”.
However, the tendency in much of the recent philosophical literature has been to assume that there is a substantial continuity between the sorts of explanations found in science and at least some forms of explanation found in more ordinary non-scientific contexts, with the latter embodying in a more or less inchoate way features that are present in a more detailed, precise, rigorous etc.
[3] A notable theory of scientific explanation is Hempel's Deductive-nomological model.
[citation needed] Arguments and explanations largely resemble each other in rhetorical use.
[citation needed] There are many and varied events, objects, and facts which require explanation.
These were thought, since even more ancient times, to be universal and unique 'kinds' of explanation that comprise all ways of explaining something.