Books

Edited, with O. Scholz, D. Plenge, A. Hüttemann / Springer, 2014

This volume brings together debates about explanation in the philosophy of biology and in the philosophy of history. It explores two major points of contact between the two fields: First, historical explanations seem to be found in the biological science as well (e.g., in evolutionary biology). What is it that makes some biological explanations historical in character? What are the commonalities of explanations in the historical and in the biological sciences? For instance, do both types of explanations appeal to historical laws, are both narratives, or are both how-possible explanations? Second, a recent trend that can be observed in the philosophy of history and in the philosophy of biology is the emphasis on mechanisms and mechanistic explanation. Are biological mechanisms fundamentally different from historical and social mechanisms or is their difference just one of degree? What are the similarities and differences between narrative explanations in the historical science and mechanistic explanations in biology, and do the similarities warrant characterizing historical explanation as a subtype of mechanistic explanation?

Contributing authors: Stephan Berry, Carl F. Craver, Alexander Gebharter, Doris Gerber, Stuart Glennan, Daniel Immerwahr, Marie I. Kaiser, Philip Kitcher, Ulrich Krohs, Daniel Plenge, Alexander Reutlinger, Oliver R. Scholz, Gerhard Schurz, Daniel Steel, Gerhard Müller-Strahl, Aviezer Tucker, Derek D. Turner

• Download the table of contents here (.pdf)