Description vs Explanation

This paper distinguishes description from explanation as two structurally different modes of interpretation. It defines description as the articulation of what appears and explanation as the account of why something occurs. It then identifies the methodological collapse in which description is extended into explanation without transition, producing misclassification and overreach. The paper stabilizes a constraint in which description remains prior to and distinct from explanation, allowing explanation to follow without replacing its ground. Its contribution is not the rejection of explanation, but the preservation of description as an independent domain.