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  • Chapter 2 - Singular Compositional Explanations

  • Kenneth Aizawa, Rutgers University, New Jersey
  • Book:
    Compositional Abduction and Scientific Interpretation
    Published online:
    20 November 2025
    Print publication:
    04 December 2025, pp 39-66
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  • Summary

    This chapter develops a theory of singular compositional explanation. The core idea is that a singular compositional explanation is a representation of an ontological dependence relation between entities mentioned in a representation of an explanans and entities mentioned in a representation of an explanandum. The account is realist in the sense that it postulates a real relation among entities in the world that would have been rejected by logical empiricists. Explanations are singular in the sense that the explanandum entity is a single spatiotemporal particular and the explanans entities are individual spatiotemporal particulars. The explanations are compositional in the sense that the explanandum entity is an individual, an individual property instance, or an individual activity instance that is explained by sets of lower level individuals, lower level property instances, or lower level activity instances.