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The mechanist and the snail

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Conclusion

Using an example drawn from evolutionary biology, I have shown that distinct, competing explanations may nonetheless postulate identical networks of causal processes and interactions. It follows from this that to provide a causal explanation is to do more than describe a network of causal processes and interactions. In the example given, it seems that the proffered explanations also purport to describe probabilistic causal relations of the sort rejected by Salmon.

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Hitchcock, C.R. The mechanist and the snail. Philosophical Studies 84, 91–105 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00364675

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