Typology of explanation in social sciences

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Abstract

In this article the concept of explanation has been described etymologically and terminologically. Then we classified the philosophy of social sciences into ontological and epistemological approaches. In ontological approach, we introduced five methodologies including individualism, holism, dialecticism, systemism and realism. Concerning the epistemological approach, we introduced two explanation models including deductive and inductive models. Based on the same approach, various methods of explanation are classified and introduced briefly. This article aimed to draw a general scheme of explanation methods and determines their extents in regard to other methods.
 

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