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The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 1998 49(4):603-624; doi:10.1093/bjps/49.4.603
© 1998 by British Society for the Philosophy of Science
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Mathematical Explanation and the Theory of Why-Questions

David Sandborg

Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA

Van Fraassen and others have urged that judgements of explanations are relative to why-questions; explanations should be considered good in so far as they effectively answer why-questions. In this paper, I evaluate van Fraassen's theory with respect to mathematical explanation. I show that his theory cannot recognize any proofs as explanatory. I also present an example that contradicts the main thesis of the why-question approach—an explanation that appears explanatory despite its inability to answer the why-question that motivated it. This example shows how explanatory judgements can be context-dependent without being why-question-relative.


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