What kind of explanations are we looking for? We are not looking for a mere desсrіption or statement of facts, like ′a hostile person entered the subway to attack people′ or ′someone slapped someone else.′ We are looking for a situation which is in some way mysterious, and we are using induction to infer to the best possible explanation. For example, you might wonder why Russia is such a large state. Or you might wonder why US government officials in Cuban embassies have recently had strange medical symptoms.There are any number of either stranger or more mundane situations which could use explanation. And there may be many ways to explain these things; if you find one, you will try to analyze its strenghts and weaknesses. Second, it is important to state, as clearly and distinctly as possible, the explanation which you find in an article or in the news or in a social media or internet source. ′Russia is so large because…′ or ′US government officials have most likely experienced these symptoms because…′ In place of these dots or ellipses, you must state the explanation. If it′s long, you have to summarize accurately. The explanation cannot be something everyone already knows, or which does not require induction. (For example, we know the rules of the game of Monopoly. Sure, they explain how we play that game. But you do not have to infer by induction to those rules, and so that′s not the kind of explanation we are looking for.) Only when you have stated an explanation which has been inferred to by induction can you discuss its virtues or lack of virtues. And it is important to understand that these virtues have unique meanings in this context. For example, modesty, here, does not refer to being polite or unassuming, but it means not offering, as part of an explanation, elements which don′t do any explanatory work. So, to do the assignment, you will have to pick a new and approproate article or source (it′s best if you are interested in the topic). You will have to find the explanation in it, state it clearly, and then analyze it in terms of the virtues. You cannot just state which virtues it has or does not have, but argue to make your points. And you have to cite it with a bibliography entry (not just a link). Another point of the assignment is to understand or be able to ponder the nature of explanation. You might even start to ask if or how we might explain these explanatory virtues themselves. Thank you, have a good break, and I will send out more official instructions next week, Tim
