An Abductive Theory of Constitution
Philosophy of Science 84 (2):214-233 (2017)
Abstract
The first part of this paper finds Craver’s (2007) mutual manipulability theory (MM) of constitution inadequate, as it definitionally ties constitution to the feasibility of idealized experiments, which, however, are unrealizable in principle. As an alternative, the second part develops an abductive theory of constitution (NDC), which exploits the fact that phenomena and their constituents are unbreakably coupled via common causes. The best explanation for this common-cause coupling is the existence of an additional dependence relation, viz. constitution. Apart from adequately capturing the essential characteristics of constitution missed by MM, NDC has important ramifications for constitutional discovery—most notably, that there is no experimentum crucis for constitution, not even under ideal discovery circumstances.Author's Profile
DOI
10.1086/690716
My notes
Similar books and articles
Constitutive Relevance, Mutual Manipulability, and Fat-Handedness.Michael Baumgartner & Alexander Gebharter - 2016 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 67 (3):731-756.
Mechanistic Constitution in Neurobiological Explanations.Jens Harbecke - 2010 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 24 (3):267-285.
Regularity Constitution and the Location of Mechanistic Levels.Jens Harbecke - 2015 - Foundations of Science 20 (3):323-338.
Against Originalism: Getting over the U. S. constitution.Austin W. Bramwell - 2004 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 16 (4):431-453.
No explanation of persons, no explanation of resurrection: on Lynne Baker’s constitution view and the resurrection of human persons.James T. Turner - 2014 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 76 (3):297-317.
The role of supervenience and constitution in neuroscientific research.Jens Harbecke - 2014 - Synthese 191 (5):1-19.
Constitution, and Multiple Constitution, in the Sciences: Using the Neuron to Construct a Starting Framework. [REVIEW]Carl Gillett - 2013 - Minds and Machines 23 (3):309-337.
The significance of signatures: Why the framers signed the constitution and what they meant by doing so.Michael Coenen - unknown
Constitution and Composition: Three Approaches to their Relation.Simon J. Evnine - 2011 - ProtoSociology 27:212-235.
A puzzle about material constitution and how to solve it: Enriching constitution views in metaphysics.Robert A. Wilson - 2007 - Philosophers' Imprint 7:1-20.
Schutz’s Theory of Constitution: An Idealism of Meaning.Thomas A. Michaud - 1987 - Philosophy Research Archives 13:63-71.
Function and Self-Constitution: How to make something of yourself without being all that you can be. A commentary on Christine Korsgaard's The Constitution of Agency and Self-Constitution.A. Barandalla & M. Ridge - 2011 - Analysis 71 (2):364-380.
The Politics of Self Constitution.Patrick Fitzsimons - 1997 - Educational Philosophy and Theory 29 (1):75-88.
Analytics
Added to PP
2016-06-24
Downloads
609 (#15,642)
6 months
89 (#10,379)
2016-06-24
Downloads
609 (#15,642)
6 months
89 (#10,379)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Constitutive relevance & mutual manipulability revisited.Carl F. Craver, Stuart Glennan & Mark Povich - 2021 - Synthese 199 (3-4):8807-8828.
Saving the mutual manipulability account of constitutive relevance.Beate Krickel - 2018 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 68:58-67.
Uncovering constitutive relevance relations in mechanisms.Alexander Gebharter - 2017 - Philosophical Studies 174 (11):2645-2666.
Extended Cognition, The New Mechanists’ Mutual Manipulability Criterion, and The Challenge of Trivial Extendedness.Beate Krickel - 2020 - Mind and Language 35 (4):539–561.
Minds in the Metaverse: Extended Cognition Meets Mixed Reality.Paul Smart - 2022 - Philosophy and Technology 35 (4):1–29.
References found in this work
Making Things Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation.James Woodward - 2003 - Oxford University Press.
Explaining the Brain: Mechanisms and the Mosaic Unity of Neuroscience.Carl F. Craver - 2007 - Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press.
Thinking about mechanisms.Peter Machamer, Lindley Darden & Carl F. Craver - 2000 - Philosophy of Science 67 (1):1-25.
Parts and Places: The Structures of Spatial Representation.Roberto Casati & Achille C. Varzi - 1999 - MIT Press.