Once we know the cause of a phenomenon, we can cite this cause in a premise of an argument whose purpose is to explain the phenomenon (as we saw in Chapter 1). Explanation and causation are also related in a different way, for explanations can be used to pick out the cause from among various conditions correlated with the phe- nomenon (a problem faced at the end of Chapter 9). The general strategy is then to cite the explanatory value of a causal hypothesis as evidence for that hypothesis. This form of argument, which is described as an inference to the best explanation, is the first topic in this chapter. It requires us to determine which explanation is best, so we will investigate common standards for assessing explanations, including falsifia- bility, conservativeness, modesty, simplicity, power, and depth.