ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book argues that the conventional approach to the philosophy of explanation is fundamentally flawed. Explanation is too diverse a beast to be captured by one unified concept, if that concept is required to refer only to things internal to explanation. It discusses how one could build a theory of explanation on the foundation of this theory of understanding, and argues that such a theory could avoid the problems that arise for the theories already available. The book also argues that, when we have a good mental model, we have everything that we could want from understanding: we can simulate the mechanism, structure, and purpose behind any event, say what would happen under different circumstances, and successfully plan future actions.
