Mechanisms, laws and explanation

Cartwright, Nancy, Pemberton, John and Wieten, Sarah (2020) Mechanisms, laws and explanation. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 10 (3). ISSN 1879-4912

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Abstract

Mechanisms are now taken widely in philosophy of science to provide one of modern science’s basic explanatory devices. This has raised lively debate concerning the relationship between mechanisms, laws and explanation. This paper focuses on cases where a mechanism gives rise to a ceteris paribus law, addressing two inter-related questions: (1) What kind of explanation is involved? and (2) What is going on in the world when mechanism M affords behavior B described in a ceteris paribus law? We explore various answers offered by ‘new mechanists’ and others before setting out and explaining our own answers: (1) mechanistic explanations are a species of oldfashioned covering-law explanation and this often accounts in part for their explanatory power; and (2) B is what it takes for some set of principles that govern the features of M’s parts in their arrangement in M all to be instanced together.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2020, Springer Nature B.V.
Divisions:	Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method CPNSS
Subjects:	K Law
Date Deposited:	29 Jun 2022 23:17
Last Modified:	02 Nov 2024 18:27
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/115458

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