Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-grxwn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-30T23:47:48.908Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Thinking Again about Biological Mechanisms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Lindley Darden
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The new research program to understand mechanisms in biology has developed rapidly in the last 10 years. Reconsideration of the characterization of mechanisms in biology in the light of this recent work is now in order. This article discusses the perspectival aspect of the characterization of mechanisms (and ways of mitigating rampant perspectivalism), refinements in claims about working entities and kinds of activities, challenges and responses to claims about regularity, productive continuity, and the organizational aspects of a mechanism, and issues about representations of mechanisms in schemas and sketches.

Type
Mechanisms: Beyond Biology to Psychology and Chemistry
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 75 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2006 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers. Edited by Cristina Bicchieri and Jason Alexander , December 2008 , pp. 958 - 969
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

‡

Thanks to Bill Bechtel, Jim Bogen, and Carl Craver for helpful comments. A General Research Board Award from the University of Maryland supported this work.

References

Bechtel, William (2006), Discovering Cell Mechanisms: The Creation of Modern Cell Biology. Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bechtel, William, and Abrahamsen, Adele (2005), “Explanation: A Mechanist Alternative”, in Carl F. Craver and Lindley Darden (eds.), “Mechanisms in Biology”, special issue, Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 36:421–441.10.1016/j.shpsc.2005.03.010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bechtel, William, and Richardson, Robert C. (1993), Discovering Complexity: Decomposition and Localization as Strategies in Scientific Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bogen, James (2004), “Analysing Causality: The Opposite of Counterfactual Is Factual”, Analysing Causality: The Opposite of Counterfactual Is Factual 18:3–26.Google Scholar
Bogen, James (2005), “Regularities and Causality: Generalizations and Causal Explanations”, Regularities and Causality: Generalizations and Causal Explanations 36:397–420.Google ScholarPubMed
Bogen, James (2008), “Causally Productive Activities”, Causally Productive Activities 39:112–123.Google Scholar
Cartwright, Nancy (1989), Nature's Capacities and Their Measurement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Craver, Carl F. (2001), “Role Functions, Mechanisms, and Hierarchy”, Role Functions, Mechanisms, and Hierarchy 68:53–74.Google Scholar
Craver, Carl F. (2002a), “Interlevel Experiments, Multilevel Mechanisms in the Neuroscience of Memory”, Interlevel Experiments, Multilevel Mechanisms in the Neuroscience of Memory 69 (Proceedings): S83–S97.Google Scholar
Craver, Carl F. (2002b), “Structures of Scientific Theories”, in Machamer, P. K. and Silberstein, M. (eds.), Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Science. Oxford: Blackwell, 55–79.Google Scholar
Craver, Carl F. (2005), “Beyond Reduction: Mechanisms, Multifield Integration, and the Unity of Neuroscience”, Beyond Reduction: Mechanisms, Multifield Integration, and the Unity of Neuroscience 36:373–397.Google ScholarPubMed
Craver, Carl F. (2007), Explaining the Brain: Mechanisms and the Mosaic Unity of Neuroscience. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craver, Carl F., and Bechtel, William (2007), “Top-Down Causation without Top-Down Causes,” Biology and Philosophy 22:547–563.10.1007/s10539-006-9028-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darden, Lindley (1991), Theory Change in Science: Strategies from Mendelian Genetics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Darden, Lindley (2001), “Discovering Mechanisms: A Computational Philosophy of Science Perspective”, in Jantke, Klaus P. and Shinohara, Ayumi (eds.), Discovery Science. New York: Springer, 3–15.10.1007/3-540-45650-3_2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darden, Lindley (2006), Reasoning in Biological Discoveries: Mechanisms, Interfield Relations, and Anomaly Resolution. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darden, Lindley (2007), “Mechanisms and Models”, in Hull, David and Ruse, Michael (eds.), Cambridge Companion to Philosophy of Biology. New York: Cambridge University Press, 139–159.10.1017/CCOL9780521851282.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glennan, Stuart S. (1996), “Mechanisms and the Nature of Causation”, Mechanisms and the Nature of Causation 44:49–71.Google Scholar
Glennan, Stuart S. (2002), “Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation”, Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation 69 (Proceedings): S342–S353.Google Scholar
Glennan, Stuart S. (2005), “Modeling Mechanisms”, Modeling Mechanisms 36:443–464.Google ScholarPubMed
Hanson, Norwood Russell (1963), The Concept of the Positron: A Philosophical Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1063/1.3050673CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kauffman, Stuart A. (1971), “Articulation of Parts Explanation in Biology and the Rational Search for Them”, in Buck, Roger C. and Cohen, Robert S. (eds.), PSA 1970: Proceedings of the 1970 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Dordrecht: Reidel, 257–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machamer, Peter (2004), “Activities and Causation: The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Mechanisms”, Activities and Causation: The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Mechanisms 18:27–39.Google Scholar
Machamer, Peter, Darden, Lindley, and Craver, Carl F. (2000), “Thinking about Mechanisms”, Thinking about Mechanisms 67:1–25. Reprinted in Darden 2006, Chapter 1.Google Scholar
Morange, Michel (2006), “The Ambiguous Place of Structure Biology in the Historiography of Molecular Biology”, in Rheinberger, H. and Chadarevian, S. (eds.), History and Epistemology of Molecular Biology and Beyond. Berlin: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, 179–186.Google Scholar
Morgan, Thomas H., Sturtevant, A. H., Muller, H. J., and Bridges, C. B. (1915), The Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity. New York: Holt.Google Scholar
Psillos, Stathis (2004), “A Glimpse of the Secret Connexion: Harmonizing Mechanisms with Counterfactuals”, A Glimpse of the Secret Connexion: Harmonizing Mechanisms with Counterfactuals 12:288–391.Google Scholar
Russ, Rosemary (2006), A Framework for Recognizing Mechanistic Reasoning. PhD Dissertation. College Park: University of Maryland.Google Scholar
Salmon, Wesley C. (1984), Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Skipper, Robert A. Jr., and Millstein, Roberta L. (2005), “Thinking about Evolutionary Mechanisms: Natural Selection”, Thinking about Evolutionary Mechanisms: Natural Selection 36:327–347.Google ScholarPubMed
Tabery, James G. (2004), “Synthesizing Activities and Interactions in the Concept of a Mechanism”, Synthesizing Activities and Interactions in the Concept of a Mechanism 71:1–15.Google Scholar
Thagard, Paul (1998), “Explaining Disease: Causes, Correlations, and Mechanisms”, Explaining Disease: Causes, Correlations, and Mechanisms 8:61–78.Google Scholar
Thagard, Paul (1999), How Scientists Explain Disease. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thagard, Paul (2003), “Pathways to Biomedical Discovery”, Pathways to Biomedical Discovery 70:235–254.Google Scholar
Watson, James (1965), Molecular Biology of the Gene. New York: Benjamin.Google Scholar
Watson, James, Hopkins, Nancy, Roberts, Jeffrey, Steitz, Joan, and Weiner, Alan (1988), Molecular Biology of the Gene. 4th ed. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings.Google Scholar
Weber, Marcel (2005), Philosophy of Experimental Biology. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Woodward, James (2002), “What Is a Mechanism? A Counterfactual Account”, What Is a Mechanism? A Counterfactual Account 69 (Proceedings): S366–S377.Google Scholar