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The laws employed in the explanans statements of a deductive-nomological explanation are all of universal form. According to Hempel, “a statement of this kind asserts a uniform connection between different empirical phenomena or between different aspects of an empirical formula.” Whenever an event F occurs, event G occurs is an example of such a law. Common sense dictates, of course, that universal laws must be true, there would be, of course, no use for false laws. However, explanations are often given having taken into account older general laws such as those of Galileo and Kepler. With our current understanding of the universe, we know that these universal laws aren’t fully true, only approximately true. Nevertheless, theories possessing approximate truth may be used in deductive-nomological explanations as “laws.” In scientific explanation using the deductive-nomological model, laws serve as the foundation for explanation. Accidental generalizations cannot function in providing the primary grounds for scientific explanation.
Approximate Word count = 567
Approximate Pages = 2.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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