Explanation and Understanding, perhaps von Wrights best-known book, showed the influence of Wittgenstein, but marked a clean break with the positivism of his youth. He suggested that human action could not be explained causally by scientific or natural laws, but had to be understood intentionally—a concept connected with wants and beliefs developed in a social and cultural context.—Daily TelegraphThis is a very good book packed with much original material; it also contains illuminating reinterpretations of some familiar theories and arguments. The range of topics treated includes causation, action, verification of gnomic statements, practical inference and its use in the explanation of action, and the structure of explanation in history.—Philosophical Review
