Study Questions for Elster

1. What is the author's main point?
2. What are the elements of an explanation?
3. What is the difference between causal statements and causal explanations?
4. What is the difference between correlation and causal explanation?
5. What is the difference between necessitation and causal explanation?
6. What is the difference between storytelling and causal explanation?
7. What is the difference between prediction and causal explanation?
8. Why does any of this matter to political scientists?

Things to look for/keep in mind for future readings:

• causal mechanism
• research traditions that use the alternatives to causal explanation (e.g. correlation, storytelling, etc.)

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