Explanandum and explanans
Template:Short description An explanandum (a Latin term) is a sentence describing a phenomenon that is to be explained, and the explanans are the sentences adduced as explanations of that phenomenon.[1] For example, one person may pose an explanandum by asking "Why is there smoke?", and another may provide an explanans by responding "Because there is a fire". In this example, "smoke" is the explanandum, and "fire" is the explanans.
Carl Gustav Hempel and Paul Oppenheim (1948),[1] in their deductive-nomological model of scientific explanation, explored the distinction between explanans and explanandum in order to answer why-questions, rather than simply what-questions:
References
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