Experiential Explanation

被引：8

作者：

Aronowitz, Sara ^{[1
,2
]}

Lombrozo, Tania ^{[3
]}

机构：

[1] Princeton Univ, Univ Ctr Human Values, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA

[2] Princeton Univ, Program Cognit Sci, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA

[3] Princeton Univ, Dept Psychol, Princeton, NJ 08540 USA

来源：

TOPICS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE | 2020年 / 12卷 / 04期

关键词：

Explanation; Abstraction; Narrative; Storytelling; Learning; Mental simulation; Theory change; NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION; MEMORY; COMPREHENSION; CONCRETENESS; LANGUAGE; RECALL; STORY; REPRESENTATIONS; ABSTRACTION; PHILOSOPHY;

D O I：

10.1111/tops.12445

中图分类号：

B84 [心理学];

学科分类号：

04 ; 0402 ;

摘要：

People often answer why-questions with what we call experiential explanations: narratives or stories with temporal structure and concrete details. In contrast, on most theories of the epistemic function of explanation, explanations should be abstractive: structured by general relationships and lacking extraneous details. We suggest that abstractive and experiential explanations differ not only in level of abstraction, but also in structure, and that each form of explanation contributes to the epistemic goals of individual learners and of science. In particular, experiential explanations support mental simulation and survive transitions across background theories; as a result, they support learning and help us translate between competing frameworks. Experiential explanations play an irreducible role in human cognition-and perhaps in science.

引用

页码：1321 / 1336

页数：16

共 64 条

[1]

[Anonymous], 1991, Perspectives on Language and Thought, DOI [DOI 10.1017/CBO9780511983689.008, 10.1017/CBO9780511983689.008]

[2] Concreteness and abstraction in everyday explanation [J].