Mechanism and Explanation

The aim of this article is to elucidate the notions of explanation and mechanism, in particular of the social kind. A mechanism is defined as what makes a concrete system tick, and it is argued that to propose an explanation proper is to exhibit a lawful mechanism. The so-called covering law model is shown to exhibit only the logical aspect of explanation: it just subsumes particulars under universals. A full or mechanismic explanation involves mechanismic law statements, not purely descriptive ones such as functional relations and rate equations. Many examples from the natural, biosocial, and social sciences are examined. In particular, macro-micro-micro-macro social relations are shown to explain other wise puzzling macro-macro links. The last part of the article relates the author's progress, over half a century, toward understanding mechanism and explanation.

[1]  Mario Bunge,et al.  Understanding of the world , 1999, BMJ.

[2]  The Blackwell Dictionary of Neuropsychology , 1997, Neurology.

[3]  Courtney Brown.  Chaos Theory in the Social Sciences. Edited by Kiel L. Douglas and Elliott Euel. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996. 349p. $54.50. , 1997 .

[4]  Gerard J. Tellis,et al.  First to Market, First to Fail? Real Causes of Enduring Market Leadership , 2006 .

[5]  P. Krugman.  The Self Organizing Economy , 1996 .

[6]  E. Muller,et al.  ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF DEMOCRACY , 1995 .

[7]  W. Ditto,et al.  Taming spatiotemporal chaos with disorder , 1995, Nature.

[8]  Critical Rationalism, Metaphysics and Science , 1995 .

[9]  R. Costantino,et al.  Experimentally induced transitions in the dynamic behaviour of insect populations , 1995, Nature.

[10]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Wet Mind: The New Cognitive Neuroscience , 1995 .

[11]  Mansoor Moaddel.  Political Conflict in the World Economy: A Cross-National Analysis of Modernization and World-System Theories , 1994 .

[12]  Daniel Athearn.  Scientific Nihilism: On the Loss and Recovery of Physical Explanation , 1994 .

[13]  B. Berry,et al.  Are long waves driven by techno-economic transformations?: Evidence for the U.S. and the U.K. , 1993 .

[14]  Paul D. Allison,et al.  The Cultural Evolution of Beneficent Norms , 1992 .

[15]  A. Stinchcombe.  The Conditions of Fruitfulness of Theorizing About Mechanisms in Social Science , 1991 .

[16]  James H. Brown,et al.  Indirect Facilitation of Granivorous Birds by Desert Rodents: Experimental Evidence from Foraging Patterns , 1991 .

[17]  Mark Gould,et al.  Nuts and bolts for the social sciences , 1991 .

[18]  William A. Brock,et al.  Non-linear dynamical systems: Instability and chaos in economics , 1991 .

[19]  Hermann Haken,et al.  Synergetics: an overview , 1989 .

[20]  Jess Benhabib,et al.  Chaos: Significance, Mechanism, and Economic Applications , 1989 .

[21]  Gary James Jason,et al.  The Logic of Scientific Discovery , 1988 .

[22]  Michael C. Mackey,et al.  From Clocks to Chaos , 1988 .

[23]  M. Hannan,et al.  Social Dynamics: Models and Methods. , 1986 .

[24]  Walter L. Wallace.  Principles of scientific sociology , 1983 .

[25]  Mark S. Granovetter.  T H E S T R E N G T H O F WEAK TIES: A NETWORK THEORY REVISITED , 1983 .

[26]  D. Hebb.  Essay on mind , 1980 .

[27]  Mario Bunge,et al.  A systems concept of society: Beyond individualism and holism , 1979 .

[28]  M. Bunge.  A World Of Systems , 1979 .

[29]  T. Schelling.  Micromotives and Macrobehavior , 1978 .

[30]  A. Tocqueville,et al.  The old régime and the French Revolution , 1978 .

[31]  Mario Bunge.  A model for processes combining competition with cooperation , 1976 .

[32]  George C. Homans,et al.  Social behavior: Its elementary forms, Revised ed. , 1974 .

[33]  Mark S. Granovetter.  The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[34]  R. Jessop.  Why Men Rebel , 1971 .

[35]  Albert O. Hirschman,et al.  Exit, Voice, and Loyalty , 1970 .

[36]  M. Resnik,et al.  Aspects of Scientific Explanation. , 1966 .

[37]  Mario Bunge,et al.  A General Black Box Theory , 1963, Philosophy of Science.

[38]  E. Streller.  [De gustibus (non) est disputandum]. , 1962, Rontgen- und Laboratoriumspraxis.

[39]  Robert K. Merton,et al.  The Role-Set: Problems in Sociological Theory , 1957 .

[40]  M. Bunge.  Lagrangian Formulation and Mechanical Interpretation , 1957 .

[41]  A. d'Abro.  The Decline of Mechanism in Modern Physics. , 1939 .

[42]  T. Parsons,et al.  Max Webers Wissenschaftslehre. , 1936 .

[43]  É. Meyerson,et al.  De l'explication dans les sciences , 1924 .

[44]  William Whewell,et al.  The philosophy of the inductive sciences , 1847 .

[45]  J. Mill.  A System of Logic , 1843 .