In this article, we discuss the issue of context-dependence of mechanism-based explanation in the social sciences. The different ways in which the context-dependence and context-independence of mechanism-based explanation have been understood in the social sciences are often motivated by different and apparently incompatible understandings of what explanatory mechanisms are. Instead, we suggest that the different varieties of context-dependence are best seen as corresponding to different research goals. Rather than conflicting with one another, these goals are complementary to each other and therefore pave the way to a methodologically more cooperative approach to mechanism-based explanation in the social sciences.

在本文中，我们讨论了社会科学中基于机制的解释的上下文相关性问题。在社会科学中理解基于机制的解释的上下文依赖和上下文独立的不同方式通常是由对什么是解释机制的不同且显然不兼容的理解所激发。相反，我们建议最好将上下文相关性的不同种类视为对应于不同的研究目标。这些目标彼此之间是互补的，而不是相互冲突，因此为社会科学中基于机制的解释方法学上更具合作性的方法铺平了道路。