How does it work? The search for explanatory mechanisms
How does it work? The search for explanatory mechanisms
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DOI：
10.1177/0048393103262550
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发表时间：
2004-06-01
影响因子：
1.2
通讯作者：
Bunge, M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bunge, M
本文解决以下问题：什么是机制，如何发现机制，以及机制知识在科学解释和技术控制中的作用是什么？建议的答案是这些。机制是具体系统中使其成为现实的过程之一，例如细胞中的新陈代谢、大脑中的神经元间连接、工厂和办公室中的工作、实验室中的研究以及法院中的诉讼。由于机制在很大程度上或完全不可察觉，因此必须对其进行推测。一旦提出假设，它们就有助于解释，因为深刻的科学解释是对“它是如何工作的，也就是说，是什么让它起作用——它的机制是什么？”这样的问题的答案。因此，与将具体情况纳入概括相比，正确的解释在于揭示某种合法机制，就像政治稳定可以通过强制、舆论操纵或民主参与来解释一样。寻找机制不仅满足了理解的渴望，也满足了控制的需要。
This article addresses the following problems: What is a mechanism, how can it be discovered, and what is the role of the knowledge of mechanisms in scientific explanation and technological control? The proposed answers are these. A mechanism is one of the processes in a concrete system that makes it what it is for example, metabolism in cells, interneuronal connections in brains, work in factories and offices, research in laboratories, and litigation in courts of law. Because mechanisms are largely or totally imperceptible, they must be conjectured. Once hypothesized they help explain, because a deep scientific explanation is an answer to a question of the form, "How does it work, that is, what makes it tick-what are its mechanisms?" Thus, by contrast with the subsumption of particulars under a generalization, an explanation proper consists in unveiling some lawful mechanism, as when political stability is explained by either coercion, public opinion manipulation, or democratic participation. Finding mechanisms satisfies not only the yearning for understanding, but also the need for control.