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Full Idea
An explanation amounts to the removal of the initial surprise that accompanied the occurrence of the event.
Gist of Idea
An explanation is the removal of the surprise caused by the event
Source
Stathis Psillos (Causation and Explanation [2002], §8.2)
Book Ref
Psillos,Stathis: 'Causation and Explanation' [Acumen 2002], p.219
A Reaction
This is a nice simple point. It makes explanation relative. God requires no explanations, small children require many. The implication is that explanations make events predictable, which means they must either offer inductive generalisations, or laws.