The regularity theory of mechanistic constitution and a methodology for constitutive inference

• This paper closes an important gap within the regularity theory of mechanistic constitution by focusing on the methods applicable for the establishment of mechanistic explanations.
• I takes a formal approach to a problem that also Carl Craver and Lindley Darden have recently worked on in their book “In Search of Mechanisms” (2013, University of Chicago Press).
• Its main findings are relevant to all attempts to formulate methods for constitutive inference based on competing theories of mechanistic constitution.

This paper discusses a Boolean method for establishing constitutive regularity statements which, according to the regularity theory of mechanistic constitution, form the core of any mechanistic explanation in neuroscience. After presenting the regularity definition for the constitution relation, the paper develops a set of inference rules allowing one to establish constitutive hypotheses in light of certain kinds of empirical evidence. The general methodology consisting of these rules is characterized as having formed the basis of many successful explanatory projects in neuroscience.