2019
DOI: 10.1007/s11229-019-02230-9
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Integrating computation into the mechanistic hierarchy in the cognitive and neural sciences

Abstract: It is generally accepted that, in the cognitive sciences, there are both computational and mechanistic explanations. We ask how computational explanations can integrate into the mechanistic hierarchy. The problem stems from the fact that implementation and mechanistic relations have different forms. The implementation relation, from the states of an abstract computational system (e.g., an automaton) to the physical, implementing states is a homomorphism mapping relation. The mechanistic relation, however, is t… Show more

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Cited by 10 publications
(9 citation statements)
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“…Instead, philosophers debate the degree to which such models provide satisfactory explanations according to existing theories of explanation (89).…”
Section: Dynamical and Computational Explanation In Neurosciencementioning
confidence: 99%
“…Instead, philosophers debate the degree to which such models provide satisfactory explanations according to existing theories of explanation (89).…”
Section: Dynamical and Computational Explanation In Neurosciencementioning
confidence: 99%
“…The single target phenomenon at issue is neural computation, and in particular the inducement of a particular token neuron to fire as part of a neural computation. Neural computation is typically explained in terms of a mechanistic hierarchy, with neurons arrayed at a single level, engaging in a characteristic activity of inducing each other to fire through synaptic transmission (Boone and Piccinini 2016;Elber-Dorozko and Shagrir 2019;Piccinini and Bahar 2013). Looking down into individual neurons, the action potential explains the internal mechanism by which firing occurs; looking up, neurons are embedded in broad networks, as determined by the pattern of connection between axons and dendrites; families of neurons and entire brain regions may likewise be identified with higher organizational levels of neural computation (Kaiser 2007).…”
Section: Crosscutting Hierarchies In Practicementioning
confidence: 99%
“…As we have already mentioned, in the mainstream cognitive (neuro)science, both computational and mechanistic modes of explanation are massively adopted. Relationships between these modes are investigated in this special issue by Jens Harbecke (2020) as well as Elber-Dorozko and Shagrir (2019). Harbecke (2020) starts with the following observation: Despite the fact that computational models play an inestimable role in the understanding of the architecture of cognition (Churchland and Sejnowski 1994;Eliasmith and Anderson 2004;Thagard 2005), there is a question about the relationship among the levels that these models involve.…”
Section: Unification and Pluralism In Practicementioning
confidence: 99%
“…The question of how computational explanations could be integrated with the mechanistic hierarchy is also pursued by Elber-Dorozko and Shagrir (2019). According to them, the integration problem arises from different relations that computational and mechanistic modes of explanation deploy.…”
Section: Unification and Pluralism In Practicementioning
confidence: 99%