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Dynamicists versus computationalists: Whither mechanists?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 1998

William Bechtel
Affiliation:
Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130 bechtel@twinearth.wustl.edu www.artsci.wustl.edu/~wbechtel

Abstract

Van Gelder's characterization of the differences between the dynamical and computational hypotheses, in terms of the contrast between change versus state and geometry versus structure, suggests that the dynamical approach is also at odds with classical mechanism. Dynamical and mechanistic approaches are in fact allies: mechanism can identify components whose properties define the variables that are related in dynamical analyses.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

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