Whys And Wherefores Meaning

(idiomatic) The reasons or motivations for a fact, action, or decision, especially the complete set of such reasons or motivations.

Example: 1887, George Bernard Shaw, An Unsocial Socialist, ch. 5:
  I can no more tell you the whys and wherefores of myself than I can lift myself up by the waistband and carry myself into the next county.
1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, ch. 1:
  [I]f she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.
2004 Sept 5, Albert M. Forget, "Question integrity of vets attacking Kerry," Seattle Post-Intelligencer (retrieved 13 May 2011):
  Of the hundreds of thousands who served in Vietnam, most still do not understand the whys and wherefores of our involvement.