Interlevel Causation

Synonyms

Bottom-up determination; Top-down effects

Definition

Interlevel causation refers to the causal influence of an entity at one level on an entity at another. Top-down causation is said to occur when items at higher levels influence items at lower levels. Bottom-up causation is said to occur when items at lower levels influence items at higher levels. On some readings of the terms level and causal influence, the idea of interlevel causation is metaphysically mysterious. On another reading, interlevel causation is a metaphysically central and utterly commonplace feature of sciences that integrate the reductive pursuit of lower-level mechanisms with the discovery of higher level causes and effects in systems biology.

Characteristics

The Allure of Interlevel Causal Discourse

In the quest for explanation scientists propose and test causal claims (e.g., neurotransmitter release in neurons causes muscles to contract; see Causality). Each of the putative causes is independent of its...