Wyjaśnianie empiryczne a wyjaśnianie interpretacyjne działań politycznych
Empirical Explanation and Interpretive Explanation of Political Activities

Summary/Abstract: The article arranges issues related to explaining social phenomena, primarily political activities. Three types of explanation are mentioned in the literature: a reason explanation, an interpretative explanation (humanistic, understanding) and an integral explanation combining these two. The author discusses the types of explanation, where he replaces the term “causal explanation” with the term “empirical explanation”. Then he characterizes political activities and their results as an object of explanation. In the last part, on two examples, he examines the practice of empirical and interpretive explanation. With reference to the example of interpretive explanation, he recalls abductive reasoning, i.e. inference to the best explanation. In the interpretation process, in the absence of irrefutable evidence, none of the hypotheses can be confirmed. They can only be enhanced or made more attractive. Considering the imperfections of empirical and interpretive explanation, one should strive to use them complementarily.

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