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Toward Mechanism 2.1: A Dynamic Causal Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Wei Fang
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Abstract

I propose a dynamic causal approach to characterizing the notion of a mechanism. Levy and Bechtel, among others, have pointed out several critical limitations of the new mechanical philosophy and pointed in a new direction to extend this philosophy. Nevertheless, they have not fully fleshed out what that extended philosophy would look like. Given a closer look at neuroscientific practice, I propose that a mechanism is a dynamic causal system that involves various components interacting, typically nonlinearly, with one another to produce a phenomenon of interest.

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Type
Causation
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Philosophy of Science , Volume 88 , Issue 5 , December 2021 , pp. 796 - 809
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Copyright 2021 by the Philosophy of Science Association. All rights reserved.

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