Limitative computational explanations.

What is computational explanation? Many accounts treat it as a kind of causal explanation. I argue against two more specific versions of this view, corresponding to two popular treatments of causal explanation. The first holds that computational explanation is mechanistic, while the second holds tha...

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Publicado en:Philosophical Studies Vol. 180; no. 12; pp. 3441 - 3462
Autor principal: Curtis-Trudel, André
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Dec2023
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Limitative computational explanations.
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        au: Curtis-Trudel, André
        affil: https://ror.org/0563pg902 Department of Philosophy, Lingnan University, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong SAR, China
      su:
        Explanation
        Plausibility (Logic)
        Computer science
        Theory of knowledge
        Problem solving
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        subj:
          Explanation
          Plausibility (Logic)
          Computer science
          Theory of knowledge
          Problem solving
      keyword:
        Implementation
        Mathematical explanation
        Physical computation
      ab: What is computational explanation? Many accounts treat it as a kind of causal explanation. I argue against two more specific versions of this view, corresponding to two popular treatments of causal explanation. The first holds that computational explanation is mechanistic, while the second holds that it is interventionist. However, both overlook an important class of computational explanations, which I call limitative explanations. Limitative explanations explain why certain problems cannot be solved computationally, either in principle or in practice. I argue that limitative explanations are not plausibly understood in either mechanistic or interventionist terms. One upshot of this argument is that there are causal and non-causal kinds of computational explanation. I close the paper by suggesting that both are grounded in the notion of computational implementation.
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    language: English
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