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9. Interventionism’s Short-Sightedness

  • Lena Kästner
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Philosophy of Cognitive Neuroscience
This chapter is in the book Philosophy of Cognitive Neuroscience

Summary

Woodward’s interventionism is designed to uncover causal relationships. While identifying causal relations is an important part of scientific practice, there is more to scientific explanation than just uncovering causal relations. For instance, we may be interested in constitutive relations in addition to causal ones. But even if interventionism is just intended to capture how scientists draw causal inferences, Woodward’s analysis remains incomplete. The exclusive focus on interventions in this context is rather short-sighted.

Summary

Woodward’s interventionism is designed to uncover causal relationships. While identifying causal relations is an important part of scientific practice, there is more to scientific explanation than just uncovering causal relations. For instance, we may be interested in constitutive relations in addition to causal ones. But even if interventionism is just intended to capture how scientists draw causal inferences, Woodward’s analysis remains incomplete. The exclusive focus on interventions in this context is rather short-sighted.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface VII
  3. Contents XI
  4. List of Figures XV
  5. 1. Introduction 1
  6. Part I: Stage Setting
  7. 2. Braining Up Psychology 9
  8. 3. The Life of Mechanisms 42
  9. 4. The Interventionist View 67
  10. 5. Intermezzo: What’s at Stake? 83
  11. Part II: Puzzles
  12. 6. The Unsuccessful Marriage 87
  13. 7. Causation vs. Constitution 104
  14. 8. Beyond Mutual Manipulability 114
  15. 9. Interventionism’s Short-Sightedness 126
  16. 10. Intermezzo: Well Then? 135
  17. Part III: Shopping for Solutions
  18. 11. Fixing Interventionism 137
  19. 12. Mere Interactions 150
  20. 13. Excursus: A Perspectival View 165
  21. 14. Mere Interactions at Work: A Catalog of Experiments 181
  22. 15. Conclusions 219
  23. References 227
  24. Key Terms 239
  25. Index 241
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110530940-009

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface VII
  3. Contents XI
  4. List of Figures XV
  5. 1. Introduction 1
  6. Part I: Stage Setting
  7. 2. Braining Up Psychology 9
  8. 3. The Life of Mechanisms 42
  9. 4. The Interventionist View 67
  10. 5. Intermezzo: What’s at Stake? 83
  11. Part II: Puzzles
  12. 6. The Unsuccessful Marriage 87
  13. 7. Causation vs. Constitution 104
  14. 8. Beyond Mutual Manipulability 114
  15. 9. Interventionism’s Short-Sightedness 126
  16. 10. Intermezzo: Well Then? 135
  17. Part III: Shopping for Solutions
  18. 11. Fixing Interventionism 137
  19. 12. Mere Interactions 150
  20. 13. Excursus: A Perspectival View 165
  21. 14. Mere Interactions at Work: A Catalog of Experiments 181
  22. 15. Conclusions 219
  23. References 227
  24. Key Terms 239
  25. Index 241
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