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Sep 13, 2011 · Mechanisms are individuated by their phenomena, and phenomena are also individuated by their mechanisms. This is not circular, because it happens iteratively over time. At the beginning, a mechanism is not needed to individuate a phenomenon, but the characterization of the phenomenon may be further refined when a mechanism or mechanisms are discovered.
- Phyllis McKay Illari, Jon Williamson
- 2012
Nov 18, 2015 · A mechanism is a structure performing a function in virtue of its component parts, component operations, and their organization. The orchestrated functioning of the mechanism is responsible for one or more phenomena. (Bechtel & Abrahamsen 2005: 423) This proliferation of definitions is noteworthy for two reasons.
- Carl Craver, James Tabery
- 2015
Jan 1, 2011 · As Craver claims, there is a sense of ontic. explanation: mechanisms explain phenomena in the sense that their presence produces. the phenomenon (2007 pp27-8). But epistemic explanation is also i ...
Mar 17, 2023 · 1. Mechanisms and Mechanistic Explanations. Many accounts of causation and explanation assign a central importance to the notion of mechanism. While discussions of mechanism are present in the early modern period, with the work of Descartes and others, a distinct and very influential research program emerged with the “new mechanist” approaches of the late twentieth and early twenty-first ...
Nov 18, 2015 · The mechanism of the action potential generates action potentials. The boundaries of a mechanism—what is in the mechanism and what is not—are fixed by reference to the phenomenon that the mechanism explains. The components in a mechanism are components in virtue of being relevant to the phenomenon.
Apr 11, 2023 · One way to start the search for a mechanism (Marr thought it was the best way) is to study the phenomenon, to master the constraints on any acceptable explanation for it, and to use that model as a spring-board for conjecturing and eliminating possible and impossible explanations for it (see Bechtel and Richardson Reference Bechtel and Richardson 2010; Craver and Darden Reference Craver and ...
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Why are mechanisms'responsible for a phenomenon'?
What is a phenomenon for mechanistic explanation?
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Are mechanisms defined only relative to a phenomenon?
Are phenomena individuated by mechanisms?
are no mechanisms simpliciter-only mechanisms for phenomena. A mechanism’s phenomenon par- tially determines the mechanism’s boundaries (i.e., what is “in” the mechanism and what is not). As Kauffman (1971) clearly emphasized, an itern is considered “part of” the mechanism only if it is relevant to a mechanism’s phenomenon.
