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Mechanistic Explanations in Physics and Beyond

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Editors:
  1. Brigitte Falkenburg

    1. Technische Universität Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany

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  2. Gregor Schiemann

    1. Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Offers a philosophical discussion on mechanical explanations in physics and computer science
  • Features a comprehensive historical, methodological and problem-oriented investigation
  • Sheds new light on the topics of emergence and reduction in complex systems

Part of the book series: European Studies in Philosophy of Science (ESPS, volume 11)

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
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  2. Introduction

    • Brigitte Falkenburg, Gregor Schiemann
    Pages 1-7

  3. Mechanisms in History and Today

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 9-9
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    2. Mechanisms, Then and Now: From Metaphysics to Practice

      • Stathis Psillos, Stavros Ioannidis
      Pages 11-31

    3. Old and New Mechanistic Ontologies

      • Gregor Schiemann
      Pages 33-46

    4. Mechanisms, Explanation and Understanding in Physics

      • Dennis Dieks
      Pages 47-64

    5. Mechanistic Explanations Generalized: How Far Can We Go?

      • Brigitte Falkenburg
      Pages 65-90

  4. Mechanisms, Causality, and Multilevel Systems

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 91-91
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    2. Mechanist Explanation: An Extension and Defence

      • Michel Ghins
      Pages 93-110

    3. Multilevel Reality, Mechanistic Explanations, and Intertheoretic Reductions

      • Marco Buzzoni
      Pages 111-141

    4. A Methodological Interpretation of Mechanistic Explanations

      • Hans Lenk
      Pages 143-162

  5. From Physics to Complexity and Computation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 163-163
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    2. Causal Mechanisms, Complexity, and the Environment

      • Jan Faye
      Pages 165-181

    3. Crossing Boundaries: Why Physics Can Help Understand Economics

      • Meinard Kuhlmann
      Pages 183-205

    4. Realizing Computations

      • Vincenzo Fano, Pierluigi Graziani, Mirko Tagliaferri, Gino Tarozzi
      Pages 207-220
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Keywords

About this book

This volume offers a broad, philosophical discussion on mechanical explanations. Coverage ranges from historical approaches and general questions to physics and higher-level sciences . The contributors also consider the topics of complexity, emergence, and reduction.

Mechanistic explanations detail how certain properties of a whole stem from the causal activities of its parts. This kind of explanation is in particular employed in explanatory models of the behavior of complex systems. Often used in biology and neuroscience, mechanistic explanation models have been often overlooked in the philosophy of physics.

The authors correct this surprising neglect. They trace these models back to their origins in physics. The papers present a comprehensive historical, methodological, and problem-oriented investigation. The contributors also investigate the conditions for using models of mechanistic explanations in physics. The last papers make the bridge from physics to economics,the theory of complex systems and computer science .

This book will appeal to graduate students and researchers with an interest in the philosophy of science, scientific explanation, complex systems, models of explanation in physics higher level sciences, and  causal mechanisms in science.


Reviews

“Very interesting and thought provoking, so I strongly encourage everyone interested to read this book.” (V. Kreinovich, Computing Reviews, October 1, 2021)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Technische Universität Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany

    Brigitte Falkenburg

  • Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany

    Gregor Schiemann

About the editors

Brigitte Falkenburg is Professor for Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy and Political Science at the Technische Universität Dortmund. She holds a diploma in physics, a PhD in Philosophy and a 2nd PhD in Physics. Her areas of specialization are: philosophy of science and technology, history of philosophy (Kant, Hegel, Neo-Kantianism). Selected publications: Mythos Determinismus (Heidelberg: Springer 2012); Particle Metaphysics (Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer 2007); Kants Kosmologie (Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann 2000); Wem dient die Technik? Johann Joachim Becher-Preis 2002. Ed. by the J.J.Becher-Stiftung (Baden-Baden: Nomos 2004). As editor: Why More is Different (with M. Morrison) (Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer 2015); From Ultrarays to Astroparticles (with W. Rhode) (Dordrecht: Springer 2012); Natur – Technik – Kultur (Paderborn: Mentis 2007); Erhard Scheibe: Between Rationalism and Empiricism. Selected Papers in the Philosophy of Physics (New York: Springer 2001).

Gregor Schiemann is Professor for Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy at the Bergische Universität in Wuppertal. He holds a diploma in physics and a PhD in Philosophy. His areas of specialization are: history and philosophy of science, the concept of nature and the relation between science and lifeworld. Selected publications: Hermann von Helmholtz's Mechanism: The Loss of Certainty (Dordrecht: Springer, 2009); Werner Heisenberg (München: Beck, 2008); as editor and author (with M. Heidelberger) The Significance of the Hypothetical in the Natural Sciences. (Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 2009), (with A. Nordmann and H. Radder) Science Transformed? Debating claims of an epochal break (Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011); as editor (with D. Lehmkuhl and E. Scholz) Towards a Theory of Spacetime Theories (Dordrecht: Springer, 2017).

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