Note/On intelligible theories in science…

“Intelligible” theories refer to frameworks that allow scientists or philosophers to “grasp” how a phenomenon works, rather than just mathematically predicting it.

»By exploring various faculties of the mind, we might, in principle, come to understand what theories are more readily accessible to us than others, or what potential theories are accessible to use at all, what forms of scientific knowledge can be attained, if the world is kind enough to have the required properties. Where it is not, we may be able to develop a kind of “intellectual technology”—say, a technique of prediction that will, for some reason, work within limits—but not to attain what might properly be called scientifc understanding or common-sense knowledge.« ¹

Further reading on the question of »How does science achieve understanding of nature?« looks promising in ², ³, and ⁴.