Integrating mechanistic explanations through epistemic perspectives

Area of Science:

• Philosophy of Science
• Scientific Explanation
• Epistemology

Background:

• Mechanistic explanations often involve multiple levels, but current conceptions struggle with integrating observations from diverse scientific domains.
• Existing models of levels in mechanistic explanations lack the necessary integration for multi-domain scientific endeavors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel approach for constructing multi-level mechanistic explanations.
• To address the integration challenges in mechanistic explanations by shifting focus from compositional levels to epistemic perspectives.

Main Methods:

• Analyzes mechanistic explanations through the lens of epistemic perspectives, rather than solely compositional levels.
• Characterizes epistemic perspectives along five key dimensions for systematic analysis.
• Examines the relationships between scientific observations made from different epistemic viewpoints.

Main Results:

• Identifies epistemic perspectives as a more effective basis for integrating mechanistic explanations than traditional levels.
• Provides a systematic method for analyzing scientific observations based on researchers' epistemic stances.
• Establishes a foundation for unifying mechanistic explanations across disparate scientific fields.

Conclusions:

• Reconceptualizing levels as epistemic perspectives offers a robust framework for integrating mechanistic explanations.
• This perspectival approach facilitates the synthesis of knowledge from different scientific domains.
• The proposed method enhances the coherence and scope of mechanistic scientific explanations.