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Constraints on Localization and Decomposition as Explanatory Strategies in the Biological Sciences.

Several articles have recently appeared arguing that there really are no viable alternatives to mechanistic explanation in the biological sciences (Kaplan and Bechtel; Kaplan and Craver). We argue that mechanistic explanation is defined by localization and decomposition. We argue further that system...

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Published in:Philosophy of Science Vol. 80; no. 5; pp. 958 - 971
Main Authors: Silberstein, Michael, Chemero, Anthony
Format: Article
Published: Cambridge University Press Dec2013
Subjects:
Mathematical models
Mathematical decomposition
Computational neuroscience
Neurosciences
Life sciences
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:Several articles have recently appeared arguing that there really are no viable alternatives to mechanistic explanation in the biological sciences (Kaplan and Bechtel; Kaplan and Craver). We argue that mechanistic explanation is defined by localization and decomposition. We argue further that systems neuroscience contains explanations that violate both localization and decomposition. We conclude that the mechanistic model of explanation needs to either stretch to now include explanations wherein localization or decomposition fail or acknowledge that there are counterexamples to mechanistic explanation in the biological sciences.