Using the Western idiom, along with the associated practical syllogism of belief-desire explanation would give Zhuangzi the basis for a distinction between a cause and a reason a distinction he seems not to draw in his talk of 因 yīndependence.
But these seem to be separable: a background theory could comprise a number of partial wiring diagrams arrived at by piecemeal investigation, nor does it have to be driven by a desire for explanation in terms of kinds participating in laws.
As "studies have shown", science stories go, Thursday's report that happiness relates to our genetic heritage may appeal to our desire for explanations.
No compelling reason can be given to accept a desire-based explanation of our actions, Shafer-Landau argues, over the more straightforward explanation in terms of our beliefs.
Younger elementary school children are more likely than older children to use desire-based explanations of evolutionary change (Evans 2000).
In this sense, good fiction doesn't tend to console but rather to complicate, to baffle our desire for easy explanation, to give us not what we want but what we suspect is more meaningful, more akin to the complexity we encounter in life.
But sometimes, the desire for an explanation may lead us to perceive patterns that don't exist, says Jennifer Whitson, a management scholar at the University of Texas, Austin.
But there are at least two other contributors to belief in God: our instinctive tendency to see agency (personal forces) behind everything and our epistemic hunger -- the desire for an explanation for everything.
However, the finding that at the self-report level there was a clear differential pattern of affective responses, with symptomatic women reporting more negative affect (i.e., fear and aversion) together with less positive sexual affect (i.e., less arousal and desire), renders this explanation for the absence of differential automatic affect not very convincing.
A "Complaint" sticky offers boxes for "Whose Fault" (Mine, Yours, Ours, Other) and "Desired Outcome" (Apology, Explanation, Litigation, Change).
For those desiring a longer explanation, look no further than Dennis Ross's memoir, "The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace".
