planation

Plation, also spelled planation, is a term occasionally used in philosophy and rhetoric to refer to the content or process of giving an explanation. The noun is formed from the same root as plain, in the sense of making something clear. In scholarly use, planation can denote the substantive material that an explanation provides—causes, mechanisms, reasons, or supporting arguments—rather than merely the act of explaining.

Some writers treat planation as essentially synonymous with explanation, while others distinguish the two: an explanation is the overall justification for why a phenomenon occurs, whereas a planation may emphasize the communicative aim of making the phenomenon plain to a reader or listener.

Types of planation are sometimes proposed in discussions, such as causal planation (appealing to direct causes), mechanistic planation (mechanisms), or teleological planation (functional or goal-directed accounts). These labels are not standardized and vary by author.

Evaluation of planations occurs within broader debates about explanation in science and philosophy. Planations are considered in terms of coherence with evidence, predictive success, explanatory power, simplicity, and unification. They are often viewed as provisional and subject to revision when new data or better theories become available.

In practice, the term planation is relatively rare in modern philosophy, with many scholars preferring explanation or explication. Nonetheless, it appears in discussions that focus on the content and aims of explaining, and it remains a reference point in debates about how best to justify or convey understanding of phenomena. See also explanation, explication, and causality.