“Looking Up” and “Looking Down”: On the Dual Character of Mechanistic Explanations
Sign Up to like & getrecommendations! Published in 2018 at "Journal for General Philosophy of Science"
DOI: 10.1007/s10838-018-9402-7
Abstract: Mechanistic explanation is at present the received view of scientific explanation. One of its central features is the idea that mechanistic explanations are both “downward looking” and “upward looking”: they explain by offering information about… read more here.
Keywords: explanation; mechanistic explanation; functional explanation; mechanistic explanations ... See more keywords
Phenomenological Laws and Mechanistic Explanations
Sign Up to like & getrecommendations! Published in 2023 at "Philosophy of Science"
DOI: 10.1017/psa.2023.65
Abstract: In light of recent criticisms by Woodward (2017) and Rescorla (2018), we examine the relationship between mechanistic explanation and phenomenological laws. We disambiguate several uses of the phrase “phenomenological law” and show how a mechanistic… read more here.
Keywords: phenomenological laws; mechanistic explanations; laws mechanistic;
Clarifying the relation between mechanistic explanations and reductionism
Sign Up to like & getrecommendations! Published in 2023 at "Frontiers in Psychology"
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.984949
Abstract: The topic of mechanistic explanation in neuroscience has been a subject of recent discussion. There is a lot of interest in understanding what these explanations involve. Furthermore, there is disagreement about whether neurological mechanisms themselves… read more here.
Keywords: relation mechanistic; clarifying relation; mechanistic explanations; psychology ... See more keywords
Does Stream Size Really Explain Biodiversity Patterns in Lotic Systems? A Call for Mechanistic Explanations
Sign Up to like & getrecommendations! Published in 2017 at "Diversity"
DOI: 10.3390/d9030026
Abstract: Understanding drivers of biodiversity is a long-standing goal of basic and applied ecological research. In riverine systems, there remains a critical need to identify these drivers as efforts to manage and protect rivers grow increasingly… read more here.
Keywords: stream size; mechanistic explanations; biodiversity; biodiversity stream ... See more keywords