Scientific Explanation, Causality, and Agency

A Free Energy Account

Majid D. Beni

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Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Routledge
12 July 2024

Psychological theory & schools of thought; Cognition & cognitive psychology; Applied mathematics; Philosophy of science; Neurosciences

Series: Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Science

This book draws on advances in computational neuroscience and theoretical biology to provide a clear and accessible agentive account of the nature of causality and scientific explanations.

Instead of attempting to establish the elements of scientific explanation, such as causality, in a reality unadulterated by a human perspective, this book relies on scientific facts about cognition to describe the structure of agency from a distinctly human perspective. The book draws on the Free Energy Principle to reinforce the agency theory of causality and extend it to an account of explanation as well. This principle not only provides a theoretical account of how self-organising systems engage with the causal structure of the environment, but it also offers a viable notion of agency and is compatible with the projectivist aspects of the agency theory.

Scientific Explanation, Causality, and Agency will appeal to researchers and advanced students working in philosophy of science, philosophy of cognitive science, epistemology, computational neuroscience, and theoretical biology.

By: Majid D. Beni
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 530g
ISBN: 9781032720296
ISBN 10: 1032720298
Series: Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Science
Pages: 190
Publication Date: 12 July 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

1. A Humanistic Perspective on Causality and Explanation 2. The Free Energy Principle 3. Rolling Stones, Simple and Sophisticated 4. Deconstructing Modalities 5. The Agency Theory of Explanation 6. Proportionality's Path 7. Neither a Physicalist nor a Non-Physicalist Be 8. Distributed Agency and the Puzzle of Individuation

Majid D. Beni is a philosopher of science and cognitive science. He is affiliated with METU/ODTU Ankara. He is the author of Cognitive Structural Realism and Structuring the Self, and has published numerous papers in journals such as Synthese, Minds and Machines, and Theoria.