Preface and Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Facts

Chapter 2: Descriptions

Chapter 3: Causal Explanations

Chapter 4: Explaining Outcomes Causally

Chapter 5: Interpretive Explanation

Chapter 6: Evaluating Claims and Explanations

Chapter 7: Postscript

References

Index

Patrick Thaddeus Jackson is Professor of International Studies and Chair of the Department of Global Inquiry in the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C. He is the author of one of the foundational (and award-winning) books on philosophy of science in international studies (The Conduct of Inquiry in International Relations), and has been working on problems related to knowledge and explanation for much of his career, including developing and teaching multiple courses for both undergraduate and graduate students. For approximately 15 years he also has taught philosophy of science and research design in short-term intensive graduate courses around the world for the European Consortium on Political Research, the International Political Science Association, and MethodsNET.

The politicizing of facts and factual claims has led some to abandon all talk of a meaningful distinction between a fact and a strongly held political commitment. This book argues that what we need, instead, are better accounts of facts and their relationship to explanation.