CHAPTER V 

 THE EXPLANATION OF LAWS 



THROUGHOUT the previous chapter I wrote as if 

 the ordering of nature which is effected by laws was 

 all that was necessary to satisfy our intellectual 

 res and so to fulfil the purpose of science. But really 

 ;i we have discovered laws, we have fulfilled only part 

 of the purpose of science. Even if we were sure that all 

 possible laws had been found and that all the external 

 d of nature had been completely ordered, there would 

 -till remain much to be done. We should want to explain 

 the la 



Explanation in general is the expression of an assertion 



in a more acceptable and satisfactory form. Thus if 



somebody speaks to us in a language we do not under- 



-tand, either a foreign language or the technical language 



of some study or craft with which we are not familiar, 



uay ask him to explain his statement. And we shall 



receive the explanation for which we ask if he merely 



alters the form of his statement, so as to express it in 



terms with which we are familiar. The statement in 



more acceptable and more satisfactory, 



because now it evok unite response in our minds 



h we describe by saying that we understand the 



t. A^ain we sometimes ask a man to explain 



we make such a dem are 



pretending to be ignorant, uf tlu motives 



:. \\<> shall feel that he has 



a complete exp if he can show that 



iially inspire our own 

 motives arc 



