Explanatory principle

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An explanatory principle is a principle that allows one or more explanations to be formulated in detail (e.g. as an orientation hypothesis or by means of a certain type of method or heuristic ) .

Since one cannot question all the prerequisites for solving a problem at the same time, there is a limit to every problem discussion, and what goes beyond this must be assumed without questioning. Any particular investigation of a question is subject to certain assumptions , explicitly or at least implicitly (such as ceteris paribus ).

According to Gregory Bateson , phenomena are linked and explained through the use of explanatory principles. They indicate the limits of what is considered to require clarification within a declaration. They do not necessarily make statements about the phenomena, but in doing so they construct a socially agreed agreement that can often no longer be questioned. According to Bateson, “an explanatory principle explains nothing in reality. It's a conventional bargain among scientists designed to stop explaining things at a certain point ” .

One of the essential tasks of language is to evoke ideas that are as similar as possible to those who communicate with one another without too much effort. However, there is a risk that over time we will consider the terms we use to be "true": the more we use them, the truer they appear to us. We forget that we »only« speak and do nothing more than exchange terms and evoke images that do not »really« describe or explain anything themselves. We forget that it is not the things that we talk about, but our terms and concepts, our ideas and opinions. We hope (and as a rule can trust) that the other already knows what we mean.

The concept of the explanatory principle could be useful in that it reminds us that we are dealing not with reality itself but with our idea of ​​it (and with our own definitions, descriptions and explanations) when we are dealing, for example, with Drug addiction, ADHD, intelligence, laziness, criminal energy, free will, resistance, mental disability, capitalism etc. speak. For example, it makes the search for the supposedly only correct, “true definition” (which then appears to us as “scientific” and thus supposedly “objective”) superfluous.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gregory Bateson (1983). Metalog: What is an instinct? In: Gregory Bateson, Ökologie des Geistes, Frankfurt a. M. (Suhrkamp), p. 74
  2. ↑ Johannes Herwig-Lempp (2013): Stich-Wort: Explanation principle. in: KONTEXT Jg. 44, H. 2, pp. 215-217
  3. ↑ Johannes Herwig-Lempp (1987): Drug addiction as an explanatory principle. Proposal to change the perspective. In: drug report. 1/87, pp. 12-15
  4. ↑ Johannes Herwig-Lempp (1994): From addiction to self-determination. Drug users as subjects. " Dortmund (Borgmann)
  5. ↑ Johannes Herwig-Lempp (2006): ADHD as an explanatory principle and its meaning for social work. " In: systhema 3/2006, pp. 270–283