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Browsing University of Hertfordshire by Author "Williamson, Jon"
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Causality in the Sciences
Illari, Phyllis; Russo, Federica; Williamson, Jon; Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities Research Institute; Philosophy; School of Humanities (Oxford University Press (OUP), 2011)There is a need for integrated thinking about causality, probability and mechanisms in scientific methodology. Causality and probability are long-established central concepts in the sciences, with a corresponding philosophical ... -
Function and Organization : Comparing the mechanisms of protein synthesis and natural selection
Illari, Phyllis McKay; Williamson, Jon (2010-09)In this paper, we compare the mechanisms of protein synthesis and natural selection. We identify three core elements of mechanistic explanation: functional individuation, hierarchical nestedness or decomposition, and ... -
Mechanisms are Real and Local
Illari, Phyllis McKay; Williamson, Jon (Oxford University Press (OUP), 2011)Mechanisms have become much-discussed, yet there is still no consensus on how to characterise them. In this paper, we start with something everyone is agreed on – that mechanisms explain – and investigate what constraints ... -
Models for Prediction, Explanation and Control : Recursive Bayesian Nets
Illari, Phyllis; Casini, Lorenzo; Russo, Federica; Williamson, Jon (2011)The Recursive Bayesian Net (RBN) formalism was originally developed for modelling nested causal relationships. In this paper we argue that the formalism can also be applied to modelling the hierarchical structure of ... -
What is a Mechanism? : Thinking about mechanisms across the sciences
Illari, Phyllis McKay; Williamson, Jon (2012)After a decade of intense debate about mechanisms, there is still no consensus characterization. In this paper we argue for a characterization that applies widely to mechanisms across the sciences. We examine and defend ...