回溯解释问题:一个统一论的解释主义方案

Backwards Explanation and an Unificationist Defence for Explanationism

在证据主义的一般框架里,解释主义者引入最佳解释来说明证据与命题之间的契合关系。这种思路在表现出吸引力的同时,也引入一些与解释概念相关的问题,回溯解释问题就是其中一个重要问题。这个问题指的是,人们似乎有些合理的关于未来事态的信念,但给定解释的非对称性,这类信念不能成为既有证据的最佳解释的构成部分。援引科学解释的统一论观念,可以发展一个应对回溯解释问题的证据主义方案,从而为解释主义提供有力的辩护。

Explanationism holds that a person’s evidence supports a particular proposition just if that proposition is part of the best available explanation for the person’s evidence. T. Ryan Byerly(2013) argues that explanationism faces a serious problem when it comes to justified beliefs about the future. We shall argue that by supplementing an unificationist notion of explanation for explanationist principle of justification, instead of a causal notion of explanation, Byerly’s critics could be avoided.