We make sense of things by fitting them into stories. When events fall into a pattern which we can describe in a way that is satisfying as narrative then we think that we have some grasp of why they occurred. It is not obvious what makes a satisfying story, but at the very least a story requires purposes fitting into a time-frame. Religions sometimes make sense of the whole world and of individual lives by fitting them together as connected stories. Nations tell stories of their past in terms of which they try to shape their futures.
Scientific understanding is different.
It finds patterns that are not narratives, and forces us to see the stories of our lives as patterns that we make for ourselves, which do not fit into any bigger Story. A.M. See also History, philosophy of . The Oxford Companion to Philosophy 2. history, problems of the philosophy of The Oxford Companion to Philosophy 3. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy 4. All rights reserved.