Explanatory Target

Definition

An explanatory target is the primary biological phenomenon that a research programme is organised to explain.

In Brief

An explanatory target identifies the principal biological phenomenon toward which a research programme directs its explanatory effort.

Every explanatory architecture is organised around an explanatory target.

The explanatory target identifies the principal biological phenomenon that a research programme seeks to understand. Different organisational research programmes may investigate overlapping biological phenomena while differing in the explanatory targets they regard as central.

Comparative explanatory methodology therefore begins by identifying the explanatory target before examining how that target is explained.

Referenced By

A Practical Guide to Building Better Scientific Explanations Article Canonical
How Did Scientists Learn to Think About Explanation? Article Canonical
How Do Contemporary Biological Frameworks Explain? Article Canonical
How Do Scientific Explanations Go Wrong? Article Canonical
How Should a New Scientific Framework Be Tested? Article Canonical

Show all references (10)

How Should Scientific Explanations Be Compared? Article Canonical
What Counts as Explanatory Gain? Article Canonical
What Is a Scientific Explanation? Article Canonical
What Makes an Explanation Successful? Article Canonical
Which Explanatory Framework Is Best? Article Canonical