Work · Analytic Philosophy
Explanation and Understanding
Compares the “Galilean” tradition of causal explanation with the “Aristotelian” tradition of teleological understanding and argues that actions are understood through the practical syllogism – an agent’s intention and beliefs – which is not a causal law.
Introduction
Von Wright published “Explanation and Understanding” in 1971 at Cornell University Press and Routledge. He contrasts two traditions in the philosophy of science: a “Galilean” one, aiming at causal explanation by general laws, and an “Aristotelian” one, aiming at teleological understanding. For human action he defends the second: actions are understood through the practical syllogism, in which an agent intends an end and believes a certain action to be necessary for it, and this connection is logical, not causal. The book drew on Anscombe’s “Intention” and engaged with the hermeneutic tradition from Droysen and Dilthey; it was widely discussed in Germany and France, among others by Paul Ricoeur.
Connections
Builds on
- Intention1957 · G. E. M. Anscombe
More works by Georg Henrik von Wright
- 1951Deontic Logic
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