EXPLANATION. An event is explained when it is exhibited as an instance of a law, or true universal proposition. For example, the fall of a raindrop is partly explained if it is regarded as an example of the tendency of water to fall to the earth, and it is still further explained if it is regarded as an example of the gravitational attraction which each body has for every other. The explanation becomes even more satisfactory if the velocity and course of the raindrop are found to conform to the mathematical formulz concerning gravitational motion in a retarding inedimn. In other words, the function of physical explanation is to re duce the world of physics from an incoherent mass of particular, disconnected facts, to the far more manageable domain of a few reason able simple laws, even though these laws go beyond the particular facts which form their basis. The ideals of explanation are the same everywhere, though but seldom can the per fection of physical explanation be attained Even teleological explanation, or explanation, not by the causes of natural science, but by purposes, attempts to reduce what it re gards as the complex of deeds of sorne agent to the performanc‘s of some more or less stable character— that is, of some character which acts in a more or less uniform manner.
The criteria of a good explanation are largely dependent on the particular field within which the explanation is made. There are certain general methods of explanation which have been found especially adapted to the facts of physics, others with a peculiarly psychologi cal field of usefulness, others again which serve best in the discussion of moral conduct. The good new explanation, though like every innova tion, it must in some way conflict with estab lished traditions, will almost invariably follow in a general way the explanatory traditions of its appropriate field. There is one kind of ex planation, however, which is almost never of service. This is the explanation that goes back to some more or less occult force, principle or faculty. See Ibmucriori.