[I]n science we have to be particularly cautious about 'why' questions. When we ask, 'Why?' we usually mean 'How?' If we can answer the latter, that generally suffices for our purposes. For example, we might ask: 'Why is the Earth 93 million miles from the Sun?' but what we really probably mean is, 'How is the Earth 93 million miles from the Sun?' That is, we are interested in what physical processes led to the Earth ending up in its present position. 'Why' implicitly suggests purpose, and when we try to understand the solar system in scientific terms, we do not generally ascribe purpose to it. . Lawrence M. Krauss
About This Quote

The author of the quote above was Michael Shermer in his book, Why People Believe Weird Things. He was in agreement with the idea that in science we should not focus on questions like, "Why" when it comes to natural phenomena. Instead, we should focus on what is the cause of the effect.

Source: A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing

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