Book review: reduction of surprise: some thoughts on Dowding's conception of explanation

Spiekermann, Kai ORCID: 0000-0003-4983-5589 (2017) Book review: reduction of surprise: some thoughts on Dowding's conception of explanation. Political Studies Review, 15 (2). pp. 187-193. ISSN 1478-9299

Preview

PDF - Accepted Version Download (353kB) | Preview

• Author

Abstract

Keith Dowding’s book is a tour de force through some important debates in the philosophy of the social sciences. In this short comment I focus on the role of explanation and how (if at all) causation is or should be related to explanation in political science. By appealing to the difference between predictive and explanatory power, I critically engage with Dowding’s proposal that explanation is the reduction of surprise. This leads me to a brief detour to the philosophy of models before I return to the issue of causation, especially the difference between causation as dependence and causation as production and how this distinction can inform methodological debates in political science.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://journals.sagepub.com/home/psw
Additional Information:	© 2017 The Author
Divisions:	Government
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Date Deposited:	20 Jan 2017 12:06
Last Modified:	14 Sep 2024 07:22
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/68935

Actions (login required)

View Item