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On the Logic of Why-Questions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

Matti Sintonen
Matti Sintonen*
Affiliation:
The Finnish Academy and University of Helsinki
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Extract

In their classic work on the logic of explanation Hempel and Oppenheim (1948) claim that to explain the phenomena in the world of our experience is to answer the question “why?”, rather than the question “what?”. But there is a source of embarrassment, viz., the underdeveloped logic of why-questions itself. In this paper I want to explore some recent advances which, I shall argue, help us to overcome some of the embarrassment.

One way in which the logic of questions could help is proposed by Jaakko Hintikka. According to Hintikka (1981a) we can look upon scientific inquiry as a series of questions put to nature. For instance a scientist who tests a theory first derives its consequences C1,...,Cn and then asks nature questions of the form “Is CQ true?”. The inquirer (querier) here attempts to induce from nature one of the conclusive answers “Co is true” or “Co is not true”.

Type
Part VI. Issues in the Logic of Science
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1984 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1984 , 1984 , pp. 168 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1984

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