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...unction’ relevant to understanding mechanisms. We will take the classic example of the function of the heart to illustrate. The first is ‘selected-effects’ functions (see Wright, 1973; Neander, 1991; =-=Millikan, 1984-=-, 1989), where the selected-effects function of the heart is to pump, since it has been selected for on the basis of its pumping abilities. The second is Cummins’s ‘rolefunctions’ (1975), where the ro...

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...ytical account A of s’s capacity to w just in case x is capable of /-ing in s and A appropriately and adequately accounts for s’s capacity to w by, in part, appealing to the capacity of x to / in s. (=-=Cummins, 1975-=-, p. 762) To return to the heart, if the overall capacity of the circulatory system in mind is to move food, oxygen and waste products around the body, then pumping is the role-function of the heart. ...

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...ee elements are vital to a view of mechanistic explanation now quite uncontroversial in the literature that examines such mechanisms as protein synthesis. (See Machamer, Darden, & Craver [MDC], 2000; =-=Bechtel & Abrahamsen, 2005-=-, 2008; Craver, 2007; Darden, 2006.) But Skipper and Millstein’s arguments are not negligible: it is indeed hard to see how explanations offered by natural selection decompose into organized parts. Sk...

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... mechanistic explanation now quite uncontroversial in the literature that examines such mechanisms as protein synthesis. (See Machamer, Darden, & Craver [MDC], 2000; Bechtel & Abrahamsen, 2005, 2008; =-=Craver, 2007-=-; Darden, 2006.) But Skipper and Millstein’s arguments are not negligible: it is indeed hard to see how explanations offered by natural selection decompose into organized parts. Skipper and Millstein ...

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...unified entity, and that these collected parts share a common fate . . . One cannot say categorically that populations either are or are not individual entities. (Glennan, Forthcoming, p. 9; see also =-=Glennan, 1996-=-, p. 53) Skipper and Millstein’s argument moves on to Machamer, Darden, and Craver’s view, that the components of mechanisms are activities and entities. Skipper and Millstein claim that while activit...

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...n their phenomena by producing them (Craver, 2007, pp. 27–28). We do not deny that there is also an epistemic sense of explanation, such that the description of the mechanism explains the phenomenon (=-=Bechtel, 2008-=-, p. 16). This debate is interesting on its own terms, but the difference is not as important to our project as it might appear. This is because even epistemic explanation in terms of mechanism descri...

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...n—or mutation, and these new variations are also sorted. This phase still has limits, depending on how many loci on the DNA affect the character being selected, and on the size of the population (see =-=Bell, 1997-=-, p. 159). The third phase is when adapted variants in the population undergoing these changes in the short term increase. Note that ultimately medium-term constraints on the population are themselves...

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...ical mechanisms is the incorporation of feedback and other kinds of control systems that allow the behaviour of some components of the mechanism to be regulated by other components of the mechanism. (=-=Bechtel, 2006-=-, p. 33) Later Bechtel adds homeostatic mechanisms. Mitchell discusses self-organization, important in complex dynamics: ‘self-organization processes are ones in which higher-level order emerges from ...

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...ee senses of ‘function’ relevant to understanding mechanisms. We will take the classic example of the function of the heart to illustrate. The first is ‘selected-effects’ functions (see Wright, 1973; =-=Neander, 1991-=-; Millikan, 1984, 1989), where the selected-effects function of the heart is to pump, since it has been selected for on the basis of its pumping abilities. The second is Cummins’s ‘rolefunctions’ (197...

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... There are three senses of ‘function’ relevant to understanding mechanisms. We will take the classic example of the function of the heart to illustrate. The first is ‘selected-effects’ functions (see =-=Wright, 1973-=-; Neander, 1991; Millikan, 1984, 1989), where the selected-effects function of the heart is to pump, since it has been selected for on the basis of its pumping abilities. The second is Cummins’s ‘role...

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... for Godfrey-Smith to write: ‘It [this book] is primarily about evolution by natural selection, the process by which populations change through a dynamic of variation, inheritance, and reproduction’ (=-=Godfrey-Smith, 2009-=-, p. vii). It is also natural enough for Skipper and Millstein to include variation in natural selection as their stage 1, and mutation as change in stage 1 (Skipper & Millstein, 2005, pp. 329–331). A...

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...ther of the components. Mitchell writes: ‘Complex systems are also characterized by the ways in which the parts are arranged, that is, the relations in which the components stand or their structure’ (=-=Mitchell, 2003-=-, p. 167). Not just any features of entities and activities will give you the organization of a mechanism. Organization is the final element in the explanation. We identify a phenomenon to be explaine...

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...xplanation now quite uncontroversial in the literature that examines such mechanisms as protein synthesis. (See Machamer, Darden, & Craver [MDC], 2000; Bechtel & Abrahamsen, 2005, 2008; Craver, 2007; =-=Darden, 2006-=-.) But Skipper and Millstein’s arguments are not negligible: it is indeed hard to see how explanations offered by natural selection decompose into organized parts. Skipper and Millstein accept the fun...

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...001 E-mail addresses: p.mckay@kent.ac.uk (P.McKay Illari), j.williamson@kent.ac.uk (J. Williamson). 1 Machamer also now agrees that the regularity requirement in Machamer et al. (2000) is too strong (=-=Machamer, 2004-=-, p. 37 n. 1). For recent discussion see Leuridan (Forthcoming). 2 In this hierarchy, higher levels are often important. They can be crucial in identifying and describing the phenomenon itself, for ex...

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... characterizing the mechanism of natural selection may be found in the new mechanistic philosophy. And we urge the proponents of the philosophy to explore the directions for further work we suggest. (=-=Skipper & Millstein, 2005-=-, p. 345) Barros (2008) has responded to their challenge that natural selection is not regular enough to satisfy current accounts.1 Here, we take up a different aspect of their challenge, responding t...

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...his point, and it is far from clear why as a general matter it is problematic for an entity to be part of a mechanism that causes a change in that entity. Many mechanisms operate to change entities’ (=-=Barros, 2008-=-, p. 320). We agree with Barros that this is not a serious problem, and set it aside. 284 P.McKay Illari, J. Williamson / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (20...

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...ple, HIV-3 because biological mechanisms that usually constrain the evolution of viruses may not apply to HIV. That is, HIV may be evolutionarily free of constraints that could reduce its virulence. (=-=Hutchinson, 2001-=-, p. 99) Hutchinson’s explanation can be summarized in Fig. 1. The diagram is a simplification of what Hutchinson’s paper describes, and the paper itself is a survey of more detailed work. Very briefl...

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...is is the mechanism for the production of proteins. In biochemistry textbooks, protein synthesis is understood as having the function of decoding the information in DNA to produce proteins. (See e.g. =-=Adams, Knowler, & Leader, 1992-=-; Voet & Voet, 2004, esp. p. 92; Whitford, 2005, esp. p. 247.) The lower-level mechanisms involved are also functionally described, deriving their functions from that of the mechanism. For example, ma...

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...tion for the extraordinarily complex and intricate organization of living things. To explain means to identify a mechanism that causes evolution and to demonstrate the consequences of its operation. (=-=Bell, 2008-=-, p. 1)5 If natural selection and protein synthesis are both explanatory mechanisms, one might assume they have something in common. Experimental work does show some similarity between natural selecti...