ABSTRACT
Etymologically, "to explain" means to unpack, or rendering explicit what was tacit. Strictly speaking, only facts can be explained. The only conditions for a mechanismic hypothesis or theory to be taken seriously in modern science or technology is that the mechanism in question be concrete, lawful, and scrutable. The first two conditions disqualify algorithms as possible mechanisms, for algorithms are formal devices. The mechanismic view of explanation differs from, but is consistent with, the so-called covering law model of scientific explanation. This was first proposed by Mill, adopted by Popper, and formalized by Hempel and Oppenheim. Lying between the natural and the social sciences, philosophers find what may be called the socionatural or biosocial sciences, such as demography, geography, anthropology, social psychology, linguistics, epidemiology, and bioeconomics. Infanticide and contraception are biosocial mechanisms of population control. Explanations invoking biosocial mechanisms are not exclusive to the socionatural sciences.
