Sam Wilkinson
Levels and kinds of explanation: lessons from neuropsychiatry
Wilkinson, Sam
Authors
Abstract
I use an example from neuropsychiatry, namely delusional misidentification, to show a distinction between levels of explanation and kinds of explanation. Building on a pragmatic view of explanation, different kinds of explanation arise because we have different kinds of explanatory concerns. One important kind of explanatory concern involves asking a certain kind of “why” question. Answering such questions provides a personal explanation, namely, renders intelligible the beliefs and actions of other persons. I use contrasting theories of delusional misidentification to highlight how different facts about the phenomenon that is being explained impose constraints on the availability of personal explanation.
Citation
Wilkinson, S. (2014). Levels and kinds of explanation: lessons from neuropsychiatry. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, Article 373. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00373
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Feb 18, 2014 |
Publication Date | Apr 29, 2014 |
Deposit Date | Feb 18, 2016 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 29, 2024 |
Journal | Frontiers in Psychology |
Print ISSN | 1664-1078 |
Publisher | Frontiers Media |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 5 |
Article Number | 373 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00373 |
Keywords | Explanation in psychology, Delusion, Personal explanation, Neuropsychiatry, Levels of explanation. |
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Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2014 Wilkinson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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