Constraints on Localization and Decomposition as Explanatory Strategies in the Biological Sciences 2.0

Silberstein, Michael

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-54092-0_16

Cited by 28 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Dewhurst and Alistair conclude that PROCESS TURN IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE 34 cases like this make "local hierarchy realism"-the position that takes there to be only a single valid functional decomposition of phenomena into a hierarchy-untenable. Similar examples and arguments have been put forth by Silberstein (2021) and Silberstein and Chemero (2013), who argue that "mechanists must either concede that there are many such cases wherein complex biological systems fail to be fully explicable via mechanistic explanation or, they must reject the claim that localization and decomposition are both necessary and sufficient for mechanistic explanation. "…”

Section: Fuzzy Functional Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 69%

Shedding Our Substantial Baggage: Towards a Process-Ontological Turn in Cognitive Science

Falandays¹

2021

Preprint

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In the fallout of the replication crisis, several authors have pointed to an underlying "theory crisis" in the cognitive sciences, which are argued to lack a core set of shared principles, assumptions, and methodologies. In this essay, I contend that one major barrier to an integrated field stems from a widespread, often implicit ontological commitment among scientists to substance ontology: the metaphysical view that reality is composed of one or more fundamental, static, independent entities. I argue that this metaphysical assumption contributes to the impression that alternative theoretical decompositions of systems are logically incompatible. I consider cognitive, cultural, and historical reasons for the little-challenged dominance of substance thinking in scientific thought, but suggest that the philosophical foundations are shaky. As such, the field may benefit from engaging more deeply with alternative metaphysical traditions that can be grouped as "process ontologies": the family of views that tend to deny the idea of a fundamental level, take existence to be inherently relational, and emphasize that nature is inherently dynamic. I offer a brief survey of Western philosophical traditions that speak to one or more aspects of process thought, but shine a spotlight in particular on useful concepts from Buddhist and Daoist philosophical traditions. I consider three necessary aspects of all living systems that cannot be accounted for within substance ontology, but can by process: (1) fuzzy boundaries, (2) causal loops, and (3) change. I conclude by suggesting that process ontology may help the field of cognitive science progress by dissolving ill-founded debates regarding the fundamental level of analysis, opening a path for a rigorous meta-theory of cognition.

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Section: Fuzzy Functional Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 69%

Shedding Our Substantial Baggage: Towards a Process-Ontological Turn in Cognitive Science

Falandays¹

2021

Preprint

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“…I will endorse, with others in the literature ( Silberstein, 2021 ), the idea that functional decomposition and localization are the sine qua non of mechanistic explanation. The question is then best phrased as: do widespread context sensitivity and multi-scale relations in neural systems require us to embrace emergence and abandon localization and decomposition as explanatory strategies?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Zerilli, 2020 ). In other work, Silberstein and Chemero (2013) and Silberstein (2021) suggest that cognitive phenomena, including those interrupted in psychiatric conditions, are dependent on network organization, and therefore not explicable in terms of localization and decomposition.…”

Section: Dimensions Of the Reduction And Emergence Debatementioning

confidence: 96%

“…In support of the contextual emergence thesis with regards to neuroscience, Bishop et al (forthcoming) list a wide range of facts about the multi-scale nature of the brain, including neural modulation at the cell level, neural synchrony at the circuit level, and the dependence of development on social context as evidence in favor of contextual emergence. Silberstein (2021) further discusses the widespread plasticity of neural systems ( cf. Zerilli, 2020 ).…”

Section: Dimensions Of the Reduction And Emergence Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

“… Silberstein (2021) has claimed that the attempts of mechanists embrace complexity rob mechanism of any distinctive content. That is, one can only make mechanism compatible with complexity by so weakening decomposition and localization (as well as the conditions on mechanism identity) that they are simply redescribing contextual emergence in mechanist language, hence rendering the debate verbal.…”

Section: Dimensions Of the Reduction And Emergence Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

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Mechanistic decomposition and reduction in complex, context-sensitive systems

Burnston

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Standard arguments in philosophy of science infer from the complexity of biological and neural systems to the presence of emergence and failure of mechanistic/reductionist explanation for those systems. I argue against this kind of argument, specifically focusing on the notion of context-sensitivity. Context-sensitivity is standardly taken to be incompatible with reductionistic explanation, because it shows that larger-scale factors influence the functioning of lower-level parts. I argue that this argument can be overcome if there are mechanisms underlying those context-specific reorganizations. I argue that such mechanisms are frequently discovered in neuroscience.

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Context is King: Contextual Emergence in Network Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, and Psychology

Silberstein

2022

The Frontiers Collection

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Constraints on Localization and Decomposition as Explanatory Strategies in the Biological Sciences 2.0

Cited by 28 publications

References 61 publications

Shedding Our Substantial Baggage: Towards a Process-Ontological Turn in Cognitive Science

Shedding Our Substantial Baggage: Towards a Process-Ontological Turn in Cognitive Science

Mechanistic decomposition and reduction in complex, context-sensitive systems

Context is King: Contextual Emergence in Network Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, and Psychology

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