Thagard’s theory of explanatory coherence (TEC) and its implementation ECHO might be considered as the de facto calculus of explanatory coherence. It is an elaborate framework to compare competing scientific theories. Recently, it has become apparent that TEC is also useful as a tool for the analysis of different scenarios in so-called sense-making systems. To this end, it is expedient to discuss a number of extensions and modifications to TEC. This article proposes a number of extensions and modifications to TEC in the context of sense-making systems. The following topics are discussed: input format, representation of false formulas, representation languages, relaxation methods, schemes of coherence, meta-explanations, scenarios, leaking hypotheses, knowledge acquisition, and contextual explanation. The discussion is detailed enough to carry through changes in existing sense-making systems.

中文翻译：

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解释连贯性的扩展和修改

Thagard 的解释连贯性 (TEC) 理论及其实现 ECHO 可能被认为是解释连贯性的事实上的演算。它是一个复杂的框架来比较相互竞争的科学理论。最近，很明显 TEC 也可用作分析所谓意义构建系统中不同场景的工具。为此，讨论对 TEC 的一些扩展和修改是有利的。本文在意义构建系统的背景下提出了对 TEC 的一些扩展和修改。讨论了以下主题：输入格式、错误公式的表示、表示语言、松弛方法、连贯性方案、元解释、场景、泄漏假设、知识获取和上下文解释。