Chapter 7: Objectives

Following are the main learning objectives from the chapter. To help you coordinate your studies, these objectives are organized into sub-sections (7-1, 7-2, etc.) and listed with the relevant page numbers from the textbook. 

7-1 (pgs. 197-204).
Understand that explanations are claims and not arguments.

• Understand the key difference between explanations and arguments.
• Be familiar with the four key reasons that explanations and arguments get confused.
• Differentiate between explanations and justifications.

7-2 (pgs. 205-214).
Understand that explanations are best organized into three most common and important types.

• Differentiate between physical, behavioral, and functional explanations.
• Be familiar with the proper uses of each of these types of explanations.
• Be familiar with the basic structure of each of these types of explanations.
• Be familiar with the most common mistakes associated with each of these types of explanations.
• Realize that more than one type of explanation may be offered for a given phenomenon.

7-3 (pgs. 214-221).
Understand the criteria used to evaluate each type of explanation as good or bad, strong or weak.

• Understand how to assess the criteria of testability when evaluating an explanation.
• Understand how to assess the criteria of relevancy when evaluating an explanation.
• Understand how to assess the criteria of freedom from excessive vagueness when evaluating an explanation.
• Understand how to assess the criteria of reliability when evaluating an explanation.
• Understand how to assess the criteria of explanatory power when evaluating an explanation.
• Understand how to assess the criteria of freedom from excessive assumptions when evaluating an explanation.
• Understand how to assess the criteria of consistency with well-established theory when evaluating an explanation.
• Understand how to assess the criteria of alternate explanations when evaluating an explanation.

7-4 (pgs. 221-224).
Understand how analogies can be used as explanations.

• Be familiar with the criteria for evaluating the strength of explanatory comparisons.