Hi i've been reading about causality and explanations in "The System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive" J.S. Mills says that to explain something is to provide causes in one way or another. But, there are many different kinds of explanation which don't appear to be causal at all. My question is what kind of explanation is given when we explain how someone does something, for example; the baker bakes bread by finding the ingredients, making the dough and firing the dough?
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1A typical explanation answer to a why-question. He fires the dough in order to cook it and he cooks it in order to make it edible and he ... in order to sell it. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Sep 29 '22 at 16:12
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@MauroALLEGRANZA Oh right yeah i didn't notice that! Thanks! Do you think that there Is there any problems with the fact that these kind of explanations are being used so widely in engineering for designing? It seems primitive compared to DN explanations? – Richard Bamford Sep 29 '22 at 17:26
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The use of "cause" in the sense of reason or explanation goes back to Aristotle, who distinguished four types of causes. Only one of his types, the efficient cause, is what we typically call "cause" today. The baking example is more along the lines of listing material and formal causes. – Conifold Sep 30 '22 at 05:28