Explanatory model
Encyclopedia
An explanatory model is a useful description and explanation
of why and how a thing works or an explanation of why a phenomenon is the way it is.
Explanatory models do not claim to be a complete description/explanation of the absolute reality
about the thing/phenomenon, nor does it even claim to, necessarily, be fully accurate. The description/explanation does, however, need to fit well enough to a sufficient portion of all the knowledge, observations and theoretical circumstances known about the thing/phenomenon, so that the explanatory model becomes useful.
That is: the description/explanation of an explanatory model, should be useful/helpful when one is about to make a decision or choice or when trying to understand, explain or in some other way relate to the reality of the world around us.
By being mindful of the difference between on the one hand: "absolute reality" and on the other hand: "explanatory models", then one will be better equipped to avoid erroneously rejecting important new knowledge, even when this new knowledge clearly contradicts that which one knows from before.
Explanation
An explanation is a set of statements constructed to describe a set of facts which clarifies the causes, context, and consequencesof those facts....
of why and how a thing works or an explanation of why a phenomenon is the way it is.
Explanatory models do not claim to be a complete description/explanation of the absolute reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
about the thing/phenomenon, nor does it even claim to, necessarily, be fully accurate. The description/explanation does, however, need to fit well enough to a sufficient portion of all the knowledge, observations and theoretical circumstances known about the thing/phenomenon, so that the explanatory model becomes useful.
That is: the description/explanation of an explanatory model, should be useful/helpful when one is about to make a decision or choice or when trying to understand, explain or in some other way relate to the reality of the world around us.
By being mindful of the difference between on the one hand: "absolute reality" and on the other hand: "explanatory models", then one will be better equipped to avoid erroneously rejecting important new knowledge, even when this new knowledge clearly contradicts that which one knows from before.