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11. Fixing Interventionism

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

Summary

Interventionism has not yet offered a convincing way of handling non-causal interlevel dependence relations. Even where we permit non-causally related variables in the same interventionist graph, interventions are still designed to uncover causal relations only. This is not empirically adequate. I therefore suggest difference making interventionism (DMI): a weaker reading of Woodward’s interventionism according to which manipulability indicates general, not necessarily causal, (explanatory) dependence. This is plausible against the background of scientific practice and clears the way for using interventions in interlevel experiments.

Summary

Interventionism has not yet offered a convincing way of handling non-causal interlevel dependence relations. Even where we permit non-causally related variables in the same interventionist graph, interventions are still designed to uncover causal relations only. This is not empirically adequate. I therefore suggest difference making interventionism (DMI): a weaker reading of Woodward’s interventionism according to which manipulability indicates general, not necessarily causal, (explanatory) dependence. This is plausible against the background of scientific practice and clears the way for using interventions in interlevel experiments.

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/10.1515/9783110530940-011

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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