Explanatory Gain

Explanatory gain is additional explanatory capacity demonstrated for a specified explanatory target relative to a sufficiently strong relevant comparator.

Explanatory gain is therefore relational rather than an intrinsic property of an explanation, theory, or framework. A candidate explanation must first be compared with a strong account of the same target. A difference between them is necessary for additional gain, but difference alone does not establish it. The difference must make a warranted explanatory contribution that the comparator does not already provide.

Novelty, broader scope, conceptual coherence, integration, formalisation, usefulness, or a different vocabulary may contribute to scientific explanation without by themselves constituting explanatory gain.

Explanatory gain is also bounded by the comparison in which it is demonstrated. Gain for one explanatory target does not establish the overall superiority of a theory or framework. Conversely, failure to demonstrate additional gain does not by itself show that an explanation is false, scientifically useless, or without other explanatory value.

Architectural Summary

Within APS methodology, explanatory gain is a comparative conclusion, not something supplied by APS architecture itself. It can be assessed only after the explanatory target has been specified, the strongest relevant comparator has been reconstructed, relevant differences have been identified, and their explanatory consequences have been evaluated.

Difference → Consequence → Comparison → Warranted Gain

The sequence is methodological rather than a biological dependency pathway: no step establishes explanatory gain merely by being represented in the architecture.