The Functional Sense of Mechanism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10704194 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Justin Garson (0000-0002-0210-2989, City University of New York, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 80 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 317-333 |
| Publication date | 2013-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8248 • E-ISSN: 1539-767X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1086/671173 |
| OpenAlex | W2173289591 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 30 |
| References cited | 29 |
This article presents a distinct sense of ‘mechanism’, which I call the functional sense of mechanism. According to this sense, mechanisms serve functions, and this fact places substantive restrictions on the kinds of system activities ‘for which’ there can be a mechanism. On this view, there are no mechanisms for pathology; pathologies result from disrupting mechanisms for functions. Second, on this sense, natural selection is probably not a mechanism for evolution because it does not serve a function. After distinguishing this sense from similar explications of ‘mechanism’, I argue that it is ubiquitous in biology and has valuable epistemic benefits
Biology · Cognitive science · Epistemology · Evolutionary biology · Function (biology) · Mechanism (biology) · Sense (electronics) · Chemistry · Computer Science · Gene Regulatory Network Analysis · Origins and Evolution of Life · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology
Neurocognitive Mechanisms
What Biological Functions Are and Why They Matter
How is the Mind/Brain Composed? Two Sorts of Mechanisms in Cognitive Science
Interactivism mechanized
Efficient mechanisms
Embedding mental files in the world
The social epistemology of introspection
The Ups and Downs of Mechanism Realism
Rethinking normativity with the free energy principle in light of interactivism
The Four Analytic Levels of Social Sciences
Postgenomics function monism
Evidence, illness, and causation
A weakened mechanism is still a mechanism
On closing the gap between philosophical concepts and their usage in scientific practice
Evolutionary causes as mechanisms
Pfade, Mechanismen, Ereignisse. Zur gegenwärtigen Forschungslage in der Soziologie sozialer Prozesse
A Generalized Selected Effects Theory of Function
Natural kinds, psychiatric classification and the history of the DSM
Functional analysis and the species design
Signals are minimal causes
Making mechanism interesting
Motivation, counterfactual predictions and constraints
Representation and the active consumer
Representationalism and rationality
Computational systems as higher-order mechanisms
Against Organizational Functions
Are There Teleological Functions to Compute
Against Computational Perspectivalism
Putting History Back into Mechanisms
Evolution, Dysfunction, and Disease
Reasoning in Biological Discoveries
Mechanisms and the nature of causation
Functional Analysis
Against normal function
Is the philosophy of mechanism philosophy enough
Modeling mechanisms
Integrating psychology and neuroscience
Function, selection, and construction in the brain
In Defense of Proper Functions
Are Homologies (Selected Effect or Causal Role) Function Free
Functions as Selected Effects
Function, Homology, and Character Individuation
Thinking about Mechanisms
Contextual Unanimity and the Units of Selection Problem
Role Functions, Mechanisms, and Hierarchy
The Mind as Neural Software? Understanding Functionalism, Computationalism, and Computational Functionalism
Evolutionary psychology
| Unique citing works | 30 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2.31 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2026 (14) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 30 |