The Routledge Handbook of Mechanisms and Mechanical Philosophy (Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy)

Scientists studying the burning of stars, the evolution of species, DNA, the brain, the economy, and social change, all frequently describe their work as searching for mechanisms. Despite this fact, for much of the twentieth century philosophical discussions of the nature of mechanisms remained outside philosophy of science. __The Routledge Handbook of Mechanisms and Mechanical Philosophy__ is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems, and debates in this exciting subject and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising over thirty chapters by a team of international contributors, the __Handbook__ is divided into four Parts: * Historical perspectives on mechanisms * The nature of mechanisms * Mechanisms and the philosophy of science * Disciplinary perspectives on mechanisms. Within these Parts central topics and problems are examined, including the rise of mechanical philosophy in the seventeenth century; what mechanisms are made of and how they are organized; mechanisms and laws and regularities; how mechanisms are discovered and explained; dynamical systems theory; and disciplinary perspectives from physics, chemistry, biology, biomedicine, ecology, neuroscience, and the social sciences. Essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of science, the __Handbook__ will also be of interest to those in related fields, such as metaphysics, philosophy of psychology, and history of science. Preface William C. Wimsatt 1. Introduction: Mechanisms and Mechanical Philosophies Stuart Glennan and Phyllis Illari Part 1: Historical Perspectives on Mechanisms 2. Mechanisms: Ancient Sources Tiberiu Popa 3. From the Mechanical Philosophy to Early Modern Mechanisms Sophie Roux 4. The Origins of the Reaction Mechanism William Goodwin 5. Mechanism, Organicism and Vitalism Garland E. Allen 6. Mechanisms and the Mental Marcin Milkowski Part 2: The Nature of Mechanisms 7. Varieties of Mechanisms Stuart Glennan and Phyllis Illari 8. Mechanisms, Phenomena, and Functions Justin Garson 9. The Components and Boundaries of Mechanisms Marie I. Kaiser 10. Mechanisms and the Metaphysics of Causation Lucas Matthews and James Tabery 11. Mechanisms, Counterfactuals and Laws Stavros Ioannidis and Stathis Psillos 12. What Would Hume Say? Regularities, Laws, and Mechanisms Holly Anderson 13. Probability and Chance in Mechanisms Marshall Abrams 14. Mechanistic Levels, Reduction and Emergence Mark Povich and Carl F. Craver 15. Mechanisms and Natural Kinds Emma Tobin Part 3: Mechanisms and the Philosophy of Science 16. Mechanistic Explanation and its Limits Marta Halina 17. Models of Mechanisms John Matthewson 18. Explaining Visually: Mechanism Diagrams Adele Abrahamsen, Benjamin Sheredos, and William Bechtel 19. Strategies for Discovering Mechanisms Lindley Darden 20. Mechanisms and Dynamical Systems David Michael Kaplan Part 4: Disciplinary Perspectives on Mechanisms 21. Mechanisms in Physics Meinard Kuhlmann 22. Mechanisms in Evolutionary Biology Lane DesAutels 23. Mechanisms in Molecular Biology Tudor M. Baetu 24. Mechanisms and Biomedicine Brendan Clarke and Federica Russo 25. Developmental Mechanisms Alan C. Love 26. Mechanisms in Ecology Viorel Paslaru 27. Systems Biology and Mechanistic Explanation Ingo Brigandt, Sara Green, and Maureen A. O'Malley 28. Mechanistic Explanation in Neuroscience Catherine Stinson and Jacqueline Sullivan 29. Mechanisms in Cognitive Science Carlos Zednik 30. Social Mechanisms Petri Ylikoski 31. Disaggregating Historical Explanation: The Move to Social Mechanisms Daniel Little 32. Mechanisms in Economics Caterina Marchionni 33. Computational Mechanisms Gualtiero Piccinini 34. Mechanisms and Engineering Science Dingmar van Eck. Index The Routledge Handbook of Mechanisms and Mechanical Philosophy- Front Cover -- The Routledge Handbook of Mechanisms and Mechanical Philosophy -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Contributors -- Foreword -- Reference -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1: Introduction: mechanisms and mechanical philosophies -- Part I: Historical perspectives on mechanisms -- Part II: The nature of mechanisms -- Part III: Mechanisms and the philosophy of science -- Part IV: Disciplinary perspectives on mechanisms -- Notes -- References -- PART I: Historical perspectives on mechanisms -- Chapter 2: Mechanisms: ancient sources -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Early atomism -- 3. The Epicureans -- 4. Aristotle on the two exhalations -- 5. Aristotle's biology -- 6. Mechanica -- 7. On the Cosmos -- 8. Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 3: From the mechanical philosophy to early modern mechanisms -- 1. Establishing mechanical philosophy -- 2. Challenging mechanical philosophy -- 3. Reevaluating mechanical explanations -- 4. Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 4: The origins of the reaction mechanism -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Setting the stage for mechanisms -- 3. Lapworth's kinetic studies of reaction mechanism -- 4. Moving inside the elementary reaction -- 5. Explaining the Walden inversion -- 6. Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 5: Mechanism, organicism, and vitalism -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Mechanism and materialism in the life sciences -- 3. Mechanistic philosophy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries -- 4. The early twentieth century: Jacques Loeb and the mechanistic conception of life -- 5. Mechanistic approaches in the later twentieth century -- 6. Beyond mechanistic materialism: (w)holism and organicism -- 7. Conclusion -- Note -- References -- Chapter 6: Mechanisms and the mental