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Explanation of Molecular Processes without Tracking Mechanism Operation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Ingo Brigandt
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Abstract

Philosophical discussions of systems biology have enriched the notion of mechanistic explanation by pointing to the role of mathematical modeling. However, such accounts still focus on explanation in terms of tracking a mechanism’s operation across time (by means of mental or computational simulation). My contention is that there are explanations of molecular systems in which the explanatory understanding does not consist in tracking a mechanism’s operation and productive continuity. I make this case by a discussion of bifurcation analysis in dynamical systems, articulating the distinctive way in which explanatory understanding is provided, especially about the reversibility or irreversibility of molecular processes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 85 , Issue 5 , December 2018 , pp. 984 - 997
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Earlier versions of this article have been presented to audiences at S-ANU 2015, ISHPSSB 2015, CSHPS 2016, and PSA 2016. Special thanks go to Arnon Levy and Bill Bechtel for submitting the PSA 2016 symposium proposal. I am also grateful to Arnon Levy and two reviewers for comments on a written version of this article. The work on this article was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Insight Grant 435-2016-0500).

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