Kenneth Craik The Nature Of Explanation Pdf Jun 2026

The psychological core of understanding, I shall assume, consists in your having a “working model” of the phenomenon in your mind. Farnam Street The Nature of Explanation - K. J. W. Craik - Google Books

: The resulting internal symbols are translated back into physical actions or used to recognize when a predicted external event has occurred. The Purpose of Explanation: Prediction and Survival kenneth craik the nature of explanation pdf

Craik was a materialist. He argued that thinking is not a supernatural spirit floating above the brain. Instead, it is a mechanical process. He looked at analog calculating machines (like the tide predictors of his era) and suggested that the brain works on the same principle: physical symbols representing physical states of the world. The psychological core of understanding, I shall assume,

“If the organism carries a ‘small-scale model’ of external reality and of its own possible actions within its head, it can try out various alternatives, conclude which are the best, and react before actual events occur.” He argued that thinking is not a supernatural