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“What Kinds of Explanations Do Scientists Offer and How Do Those Compare with Those Offered in Other Areas of Knowledge? What Are the Differences Between Theories and Myths, as Forms of Explanation?”

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“What Kinds of Explanations Do Scientists Offer and How Do Those Compare with Those Offered in Other Areas of Knowledge? What Are the Differences Between Theories and Myths, as Forms of Explanation?”
“What kinds of explanations do scientists offer and how do those compare with those offered in other Areas of Knowledge? What are the differences between theories and myths, as forms of explanation?”
The kinds of explanations offered by scientists compare and contrast to those offered by myths. But what are explanations? An explanation is a description, clarification, or justification of any claim or event. People tend to frequently look to scientists for these explanations, a scientist as in someone who studies science and actively tries to find knowledge in any science including Physical or social sciences; however, for the purpose of this essay, I will mainly be focusing on physical sciences. In addition, according to the title, theories and myths are both forms of explanation. Theories are explanations of any aspect from the natural world and are accepted knowledge that is organized to figure out a specific set of phenomena, whereas myths are traditional, typically ancient stories dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serve as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of society. But which is more reliable, and why? I believe that, usually, scientists offer explanations that are more logical and rational compared to those offered by other Areas of Knowledge, specifically History; however sometimes science has explanations that seem logical and yet, are not much better than those offered by History. Furthermore, I believe that theories are more hypothetical than myths and can offer more truth and are based on facts and ‘knowledge’.
Personally, as a student, I believe that scientific claims are more reliable than historic claims, this is due to the fact that in school, we were taught that Science is a very objective subject and involves no emotion what so ever. It felt right to me; science seemed to have theories and hypotheses that



Cited: "BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Nanjing Massacre Victims Named." BBC News - Home. Web. 07 Apr. 2011. . "The Dragon Stone - Myths: Mythical Origins." The Dragon Stone - Dragons of Mythology and Fantasy. Web. 07 Apr. 2011. . Green, Barry. Personal Interview. 25 March 2011. "Nanking Massacre: The Forgotten Holocaust." GoTRAIN -- Job Training in One Year or Less. Web. 07 Apr. 2011. . "What Is String Theory ?" Web. 07 Apr. 2011. .

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