Mechanism or Bust? Explanation in Psychology

Abstract

Proponents of mechanistic explanation have recently suggested that all explanation in the cognitive sciences is mechanistic, even functional explanation. This last claim is surprising, for functional explanation has traditionally been conceived as autonomous from the structural details that mechanistic explanations emphasize. I argue that functional explanation remains autonomous from mechanistic explanation, but not for reasons commonly associated with the phenomenon of multiple realizability. 1. Introduction2. Mechanistic Explanation: A Quick Primer3. Functional Explanation: An Example4. Autonomy as Lack of Constraint5. The Price of Autonomy6. Another Argument against Autonomy7. Conclusion: Autonomy and Multiple Realization