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초록

In this paper, I propose a new manipulationist theory of explanation. According to this theory, something becomes an explanans if and only if it can serve as a recipe that God could use to create the explanandum. More specifically, the explanans explains the explanandum if and only if it can provide both a positive recipe for inducing the occurrence of the explanandum and a negative recipe for preventing the occurrence of the explanandum. My theory is a synthesis of the three existing major approaches to the analysis of explanatory relation, namely the nomological sufficiency approach, the dependence approach, and the process linkage approach. It can provide a systematic explanation of the degree of explanation.

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