Building Integrated Explanatory Models of Complex Biological Phenomena: From Mill’s Methods to a Causal Mosaic

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mill’s methods involve two idealizations (“one cause, one effect” and “no mixing of effects”), but causal relationships in biology usually exhibit a plurality of causes and intermixture of effects. Building explanatory models to capture these relations remains a challenge because similar idealizations occur in contemporary causal reasoning (e.g., difference making). The problem is poignant for formulating integrated models of different types of causes, such as combining physical and genetic causes to understand their joint contribution to anatomical structures in embryogenesis. Standardized periodizations can help in formulating integrated explanatory models within developmental biology that are causal mosaics of reasoning from difference making and production (mechanism) accounts. A consequence of this strategy is a tradeoff between models that yield causal generalizations of wide scope and models that locally integrate different types of causes to comprehensively explain complex phenomena.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationEPSA Philosophy of Science: Düsseldorf 2015. The European Philosophy of Science Association Proceedings
EditorsM Massimi, J-W Romeijn, G Schurz
Place of PublicationDordrecht
PublisherSpringer
Pages221-232
Number of pages12
Volume5
ISBN (Electronic)78-3-319-53730-6
ISBN (Print)978-3-319-53729-0
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017

Publication series

NameEuropean Studies in Philosophy of Science
Volume5
ISSN (Print)2365-4228
ISSN (Electronic)2365-4236

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgement I am grateful to session participants at the 2015 European Philosophy of Science Association meeting in Düsseldorf and two anonymous referees for helpful feedback and suggestions that improved the final manuscript. I also benefited from comments on related material from audiences at Ottawa University and Yale University. The research and writing of this article was supported in part by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation (Integrating Generic and Genetic Explanations of Biological Phenomena; ID 46919).

Funding Information:
I am grateful to session participants at the 2015 European Philosophy of Science Association meeting in D?sseldorf and two anonymous referees for helpful feedback and suggestions that improved the final manuscript. I also benefited from comments on related material from audiences at Ottawa University and Yale University. The research and writing of this article was supported in part by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation (Integrating Generic and Genetic Explanations of Biological Phenomena; ID 46919).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, The Author(s).

Keywords

  • Developmental biology
  • Difference making
  • Explanation
  • Genetics
  • Idealization
  • Integration
  • Mechanisms
  • Physics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Building Integrated Explanatory Models of Complex Biological Phenomena: From Mill’s Methods to a Causal Mosaic'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this