Eksplanatorna hijerarhija uzročnih struktura u molekularnoj biologiji (CROSBI ID 295947)
Prilog u časopisu | izvorni znanstveni rad | međunarodna recenzija
Podaci o odgovornosti
Brzović, Zdenka ; Balorda, Vito ; Šustar, Predrag
engleski
Eksplanatorna hijerarhija uzročnih struktura u molekularnoj biologiji
In the debate on causal explanation in biology, in the past two decades largely influenced by the new mechanist (NM) approach, the concept of a pathway has recently reemerged as a promising research agenda (see, in particular, Ross Philosophy of Science, 85(4), 551-572, 2018 ; The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 72(1), 131- 158, 2021). Ross’ account of biological explanation differentiates several autonomous types of causal structures that play explanatory and other roles across the life sciences. NM, however, prioritizes mechanisms as vehicles of biological explanations. According to this program, the causal architecture of biological pathways and other causal structures, such as cascades and processes, can be interpreted with at least one of the NM’s mechanism concepts. In other words, these alternative causal structures are not sufficiently distinctive to merit the explanatory autonomy with regard to the NM corresponding concepts. We examine the explanatory practice of molecular biology and concur with Ross that there are indeed distinct types of causal structures, not all falling under the concept of a mechanism. Nonetheless, we show that the concept of mechanism is referring to a privileged causal structure, at the center of explanatory efforts in molecular biology. Pathways and other causal concepts, while somewhat distinct from mechanisms themselves, are explanatorily relevant to the degree in which they exhibit mechanistic features, are parts of a mechanistic architecture, or may lead to a mechanistic arrangement. What emerges in that manner is a hierarchy of causal structures with mechanisms at the explanatory top, and lower levels differing in the degree in which they contribute to mechanistic arrangements.
Causal structures ; Causal concepts ; Biological explanation ; Pathways ; Mechanisms ; Genes ; Transcriptional noise
nije evidentirano
nije evidentirano
nije evidentirano
nije evidentirano
nije evidentirano
nije evidentirano
Podaci o izdanju
11 (2)
2021.
1-21
objavljeno
1879-4912
1879-4920
10.1007/s13194-021-00380-7
Povezanost rada
Biologija, Filozofija