Inferring and Explaining

- = InferrIng and exPlaInIng we respond to Johnny in these latter, more help- 136 ful ways? Johnny asked questions about what was going on—his bedtime, Aunt Jane’s anger, and the twinkling stars. Connie implicitly asked a big question too—How’d that lipstick stain get there? We considered similar implicit questions about the car outside Joe’s bar, the observed red shifing, the identical exams, and those last two songs I heard traveling back from Portland. Might this suggest that explanations have to do with asking and answering questions? I believe this is the real key to understanding what an explanation is, and many philosophers agree with me. An explanation is not the same as a proposition, or an argument, or a list of propositions; it is an answer . (Analogously, a son is not the same as a man, even if all sons are men, and every man is a son.) An expla- nation is an answer to a why-question. So, a theory of explanation must be a theory of why -questions. 11 Mary Ann and Wanda In the 1990s, the songwriter Dennis Linde wrote a controversial song about friendship, spousal abuse, and murder, “Goodbye Earl.” Lyrics to “Goodbye Earl” can be found here: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/dixiechicks/ goodbyeearl.html. T he Dixie Chicks perform ing the song can be found here: https://www .youtube.com/watch?v Gw7gNf_9njs.html. Te story told in the song is actually quite com- plicated, almost like a good short story or even a novel. In a nutshell, we meet Mary Ann and Wanda, high school best friends. Afer gradua- tion, Mary Ann leaves town, and Wanda enters a sad relationship that culminates in marriage to a loser named Earl. Earl is violent and consis- tently batters Wanda. Wanda decides to divorce Earl and gets a restraining order. Unfortu- nately, Earl ignores it and assaults Wanda so severely that she ends up in intensive care. She calls her friend who immediately fies in and visits her in the hospital. Tere they decide that the only thing to do is to murder Earl. Tey sub- sequently poison him and dump his body in the lake. Te police investigate but not with much enthusiasm. And the ladies, without a trace of guilt, buy some land and start a business and apparently live happily ever afer. My reason for telling you all of this is the plan that Mary Ann and Wanda cooked up in inten- sive care—Earl had to die! What were their rea- sons for thinking this? It’s easy to schematize some of their central reasons. e 1 . It wasn’t two weeks after she got married that Wanda started gettin’ abused. e 2 . She fnally got the nerve to fle for divorce. e 3 . Earl walked right through that restraining order and put her in intensive care. t 0 . Earl had to die. In this little argument, the ladies’ reasons seemto function something like the reasons for Connie’s suspicion did. Tey seem to provide evidence in support of their theoryaboutwhat had tobedone. But there are important diferences as well. Con- nie’s theory was about what had happened. Her method was akin to a police detective’s or a his- torian’s or a scientist’s. Mary Anne and Wanda’s