Uploaded September 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
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Music by: The New Year: thenewyear.net
Show notes: braininspired.co/podcast/146
Lauren Ross is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Irvine. She studies and writes about causal and non-causal explanations in philosophy of science, including distinctions among causal structures. Throughout her work, Lauren employs Jame's Woodward's interventionist approach to causation, which Jim and I discussed in episode 145. In this episode, we discuss Jim's lasting impact on the philosophy of causation, the current dominance of mechanistic explanation and its relation to causation, and various causal structures of explanation, including pathways, cascades, topology, and constraints.
0:00 - Intro
2:46 - Lauren's background
10:14 - Jim Woodward legacy
15:37 - Golden era of causality
18:56 - Mechanistic explanation
28:51 - Pathways
31:41 - Cascades
36:25 - Topology
41:17 - Constraint
50:44 - Hierarchy of explanations
53:18 - Structure and function
57:49 - Brain and mind
1:01:28 - Reductionism
1:07:58 - Constraint again
1:14:38 - Multiple realizability
Patreon for full episodes and Discord community:
patreon.com/braininspired
Free Video Series: Open Questions in AI and Neuroscience:
braininspired.co/open
Apple podcasts: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-inspired/id1428880766?mt=2
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2UZj8c8Ap5oc2gh2rJxLLe
Music by: The New Year: thenewyear.net
Show notes: braininspired.co/podcast/146
Lauren Ross is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Irvine. She studies and writes about causal and non-causal explanations in philosophy of science, including distinctions among causal structures. Throughout her work, Lauren employs Jame's Woodward's interventionist approach to causation, which Jim and I discussed in episode 145. In this episode, we discuss Jim's lasting impact on the philosophy of causation, the current dominance of mechanistic explanation and its relation to causation, and various causal structures of explanation, including pathways, cascades, topology, and constraints.
0:00 - Intro
2:46 - Lauren's background
10:14 - Jim Woodward legacy
15:37 - Golden era of causality
18:56 - Mechanistic explanation
28:51 - Pathways
31:41 - Cascades
36:25 - Topology
41:17 - Constraint
50:44 - Hierarchy of explanations
53:18 - Structure and function
57:49 - Brain and mind
1:01:28 - Reductionism
1:07:58 - Constraint again
1:14:38 - Multiple realizability
