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Cited by 501

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How Does It Work?: The Search for Explanatory Mechanisms

Bunge, Mario·2004·Philosophy of the Social Sciences
DOI 10.1177/0048393103262550
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Abstract

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.

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Metadata

Authors
Bunge, M.
Venue
Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2004-06
Volume
34
Issue
2
Pages
182-210
ISSN
  • 0048-3931 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-7441
DOI
10.1177/0048393103262550
OpenAlex
W2015544292
Cited by
501
References
2
FWCI
160.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)

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Bunge, M. (2004). How Does It Work?: The Search for Explanatory Mechanisms. Philosophy of the Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1177/0048393103262550

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