I fear explanations explanatory of things explained.
Chronicles are not explanatory of what they record.
Programming is an explanatory activity.
Images are not quite ideas, they are stiller than that, with less implication outside themselves. And they are not myth, they do not have the explanatory power; they are nearer to pure story. Nor are they always metaphors; they do not say this is that, they say this is.
But, in fact, materialism is among the most problematic of philosophical standpoints, the most impoverished in its explanatory range, and among the most willful and (for want of a better word) magical in its logic, even if it has been in fashion for a couple of centuries or more.
Whether or not we have hope depends on two dimensions of our explanatory style; pervasiveness and permanence.
Most scientists like to operate in the context of economy. If you don't need an explanatory principle, don't invoke it.
One does see so much evil in a village,' murmured Miss Marple in an explanatory voice.
