The Nature of Explanation

AT a time when professional philosophers are trying to persuade us that philosophy is an attempt to answer questions which should never have been asked, and professional scientists are taking over the task of answering the questions, it is refreshing to come upon a writer on philosophy who, after a few preliminary skirmishes with the modern sceptics, unhesitatingly attacks a philosophical problem by the plain scientific method. Dr. Craik makes his philosophical point of view crystal clear. He believes in the methods of the observational scientists as the only methods of explanation. He is intolerant only of those who will not experiment and who consider that the virtue of thought is analytic precision rather than fruitfulness in the experimental field. He confesses that he has no gift for analytic precision and is particularly addicted to confusing similar concepts. He is, quite clearly, not deeply versed in traditional philosophy. This gives his book a certain freshness of outlook, although it makes his criticisms of the great philosophers, particularly Kant, appear rather naïve.The Nature of ExplanationBy Dr. K. J. W. Craik. Pp. viii + 124. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1943.) 6s. net.