explanandum
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˌɛkspləˈnændəm/
- Specialized
- However, it seems reasonable to think that the two issues can be separated, and that such a separation offers the possibility of a more intelligible explanandum.
Examples
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Thus, even by surmise, it is not evident in many studies whether ethnicity/race is being used as an explanans (the part that gives the meaning) or an explanandum (the thing to be explained).
Academic text (2007) -
Our explanatory resources appear inadequate to our intended explanandum.
Academic text (2017) -
Our explanations, be these scientific or philosophical, tend to take the stable and unchanging to be the explanatory, and take the dynamic to be the explanandum.
Academic text (1991) -
And it seems plausible to think that one of the main difficulties that Chalmers and others face when considering how one might provide an explanation of the unity of consciousness depends not so much on an explanatory failure as on a failure to locate the explanandum.
Academic text (1998) -
In scientific research, the unexpected result becomes an important explanandum that requires further investigation.
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To understand her feelings, we need to identify the events that serve as the explanandum in her life.
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The phenomenon observed during the experiment was the explanandum that puzzled many theoretical physicists.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A fact or event that needs an explanation, for example why something happens
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Explanandum comes from Latin and actually means 'something to be explained'. It contains ex- 'out' and the same root as explain and plain, so it points to a fact or event that needs an explanation.