In Figure 2.1, we identified some regularity between two variables: one is the thing-to-be-explained (explanandum), called the dependent (y) variable, and the other is the thing-that-explains (explanans), called the independent (x) variable.7 In more general terms, we can also call them the “defined concept” and the “defining concept.” Of course, our strongest desire is to conclude that one variable predicts or causes the other. Ideally, the defining concept is more general than the defined concept, with some asymmetry between them. “The brain is a machine”; however, the other way around—“the
...more
