--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We say it is \"explanation\" but it is only…" description: "\"“We say it is \"explanation\" but it is only in \"description\" that we are in advance of the older stages of knowledge and science. We describe better we ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d95/friedrich-nietzsche-15_cause-and-effect_we-say-it-is-explanation-but-it-is-only_1825929.jpg" --- # We say it is "explanation" but it is only in "description"… ![“We say it is "explanation" but it is only in "description" that we are in advance of the older stages of knowledge and science. We describe better we explain just as little as our predecessors. We have discovered a manifold succession where the naive man and investigator of older cultures saw only…” quote by Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d95/friedrich-nietzsche-15_cause-and-effect_we-say-it-is-explanation-but-it-is-only_1825929.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d95/friedrich-nietzsche-15_cause-and-effect_we-say-it-is-explanation-but-it-is-only_1825929.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d95/friedrich-nietzsche-15_cause-and-effect_we-say-it-is-explanation-but-it-is-only_1825929.jpg) > ““We say it is "explanation" but it is only in "description" that we are in advance of the older stages of knowledge and science. We describe better we explain just as little as our predecessors. We have discovered a manifold succession where the naive man and investigator of older cultures saw only two things "cause" and "effect " as it was said we have perfected the conception of becoming but have not got a knowledge of what is above and behind the conception. The series of "causes" stands before us much more complete in every case we conclude that this and that must first precede in order that that other may follow - but we have not grasped anything thereby. The peculiarity for example in every chemical process seems a "miracle " the same as before just like all locomotion nobody has "explained" impulse. How could we ever explain We operate only with things which do not exist with lines surfaces bodies atoms divisible times divisible spaces - how can explanation ever be possible when we first make everything a conception our conception It is sufficient to regard science as the exactest humanizing of things that is possible we always learn to describe ourselves more accurately by describing things and their successions. Cause and effect: there is probably never any such duality in fact there is a continuum before us from which we isolate a few portions - just as we always observe a motion as isolated points and therefore do not properly see it but infer it. The abruptness with which many effects take place leads us into error it is however only an abruptness for us. There is an infinite multitude of processes in that abrupt moment which escape us. An intellect which could see cause and effect as a continuum which could see the flux of events not according to our mode of perception as things arbitrarily separated and broken - would throw aside the conception of cause and effect and would deny all conditionality.”” [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that scientific description outpaces true explanation, suggesting that our concepts of cause and effect are fragmented and incomplete, and that a deeper, continuous understanding is beyond current perception. **In simple terms:** Science describes more than it explains; cause and effect are fragmented. Key Takeaway Seek deeper, continuous insight beyond isolated causes. Themes philosophy science knowledge perception continuity Mood reflective inquisitive Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - academic research - philosophical debate - scientific inquiry - education - critical thinking Key Concepts causality epistemology metaphysics Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance detailed description with meaningful explanation? - What methods help reveal underlying continuities? A Different Perspective It may overstate the impossibility of explanation, ignoring practical progress made through reductionist models. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cause and effect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cause-and-effect/) [Describing Things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/describing-things-1217007/) [Explanation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/explanation/) [Explanation Description](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/explanation-description-1764681/) [Explanation Possible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/explanation-possible-278759/) [Say Explanation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/say-explanation-2233744/) ## Related quotes > [We operate with nothing but things which do not exist, with lines, planes, bodies, atoms, divisible time, divisible space - how should explanation even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-operate-with-nothing-but-things-which-do-not-exist-with-lines/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [For those who understand, no explanation is needed. Forthose who do not understand, no explanation is possible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hemantsmarty/for-those-who-understand-no-explanation-is-needed-forthose-who-do-not/) [Hemantsmarty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hemantsmarty/) > [To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-one-who-has-faith-no-explanation-is-necessary-to-one-without-faith/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We must do away with all explanation, and description alone must take its place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-wittgenstein/we-must-do-away-with-all-explanation-and-description-alone-must-take/) [Ludwig Wittgenstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-wittgenstein/) > [I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. 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Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-m-lerner/) ## More by Friedrich Nietzsche > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, where he is FREE from the crowd, the many, the majority-- where he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-select-man-strives-instinctively-for-a-citadel-and-a-privacy/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“It breaks my heart. Better than your words, your eye tells me all your peril. 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Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Pain makes hens and poets cackle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/pain-makes-hens-and-poets-cackle/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) [Explore all 3,486 Friedrich Nietzsche quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## More Cause and effect quotes > [Time travel offends our sense of cause and effect - but maybe the universe doesn't insist on cause and effect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-m-lerner/time-travel-offends-our-sense-of-cause-and-effect-but-maybe-the/) [Edward M. 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Next to us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/nearest-to-all-things-is-that-power-which-fashions-their-being-next/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“There are two types of purushartha (self effort): those with wrong beliefs have self effort (purusharth) with illusory vision and the enlightened one’s have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/there-are-two-types-of-purushartha-self-effort-those-with-wrong/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [The Law of Karma is also called the Law of Cause and Effect, Action and Reaction and also as you sow, so shall you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sham-hinduja/the-law-of-karma-is-also-called-the-law-of-cause-and-effect-action/) [Sham Hinduja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sham-hinduja/) > [Soft fantasy worlds have a much looser cause-and-effect relationship. 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We describe better we explain just as little as our predecessors. We have discovered a manifold succession where the naive man and investigator of older cultures saw only two things \"cause\" and \"effect \" as it was said we have perfected the conception of becoming but have not got a knowledge of what is above and behind the conception. The series of \"causes\" stands before us much more complete in every case we conclude that this and that must first precede in order that that other may follow - but we have not grasped anything thereby. The peculiarity for example in every chemical process seems a \"miracle \" the same as before just like all locomotion nobody has \"explained\" impulse. How could we ever explain We operate only with things which do not exist with lines surfaces bodies atoms divisible times divisible spaces - how can explanation ever be possible when we first make everything a conception our conception It is sufficient to regard science as the exactest humanizing of things that is possible we always learn to describe ourselves more accurately by describing things and their successions. Cause and effect: there is probably never any such duality in fact there is a continuum before us from which we isolate a few portions - just as we always observe a motion as isolated points and therefore do not properly see it but infer it. The abruptness with which many effects take place leads us into error it is however only an abruptness for us. There is an infinite multitude of processes in that abrupt moment which escape us. 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