Explanation Quote by John Rogers Searle
““Prediction and explanation are exactly symmetrical. Explanations are, in effect, predictions about what has happened; predictions are explanations about what's going to happen.””
About This Quote
Source Lecture: Philosophy of Mind, Stanford University, 2005
He claims that predictions and explanations are two sides of the same coin: explanations predict past events, predictions forecast future ones.
In simple terms: Predictions and explanations are mirror images.
Key Takeaway
Use explanations to improve predictions.
Themes
philosophy
science
logic
Mood
thoughtful
analytical
Type
philosophical
conceptual
When to use this quote
- research design
- historical analysis
- forecast modeling
- theory testing
Key Concepts
symmetry
causality
epistemology
Questions to Reflect On
- How does this view affect scientific method?
- Can all explanations be turned into predictions?
A Different Perspective
Complex phenomena may not fit simple symmetry.
![“They [scientists of centuries past] call on God only from the lonely and precarious edge of incomprehension. Where they feel certain about their explanations, however, God gets hardly a mention.” quote by Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0b0/neil-degrasse-tyson-143_century_they-scientists-of-centuries-past-call-o_12921.jpg)
![“[Barack Obama] will spend long periods of time explaining to people why he won't use it. At the end of the explanation, nobody knows why he still won't use it because the explanation is no good. And I mean, honestly we have a president that in my opinion really doesn't know what he's doing.” quote by Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/eb3/donald-trump-18_barack_barack-obama-will-spend-long-periods-of_29283.jpg)
