Lindley Darden
Professor of Philosophy, University of Maryland

"Discovering Mechanisms"

Biologists often aim at discovering mechanisms that fit into a mechanism network. Examples of such networks include the metabolic reactions of bacteria (e.g., E. coli), and the physiological mechanisms within the human body. Hereditary mechanisms network spans generations and is more spatially and temporally extended than metabolic and physiological networks. Hereditary mechanisms were discovered in the twentieth century by Mendelian genetics and molecular biology. Their discovery illustrates general features of mechanism discovery. Black boxes in a network indicate loci requiring new discoveries. Such discoveries entail finding the working entities in the mechanism, entities with appropriate sizes, structures and other properties to carry out the activities within the mechanism. This talk illustrates the roles of "mechanism networks, " "black boxes," and "working entities" in reasoning in mechanism discovery.