Levels of Explanation Reconceived*

Levels of Explanation Reconceived*

A common argument against explanatory reductionism is that higher-level explanations are sometimes or always preferable because they are more general than reductive explanations. Here I challenge two basic assumptions that are needed for that argument to succeed. It cannot be assumed that higher-level explanations are more general than their lower-level alternatives or that higher-level explana...

Reading Loewald: Oedipus reconceived.

Loewald's 'Waning of the Oedipus complex' is a watershed paper in the history of psychoanalytic thought. By means of a close reading of Loewald's paper, the author frames, discusses and clinically illustrates his understanding of Loewald's reconceptualization of the Oedipus complex. The principal elements of Loewald's reformulation include: 1) the idea that the tension between the pressures of ...

Discovery Reconceived: Product Before Process

Motivated by the question, “What exactly about a mathematical concept should students discover, when they study it via discovery learning?”, I present and demonstrate an interpretation of discovery pedagogy that attempts to sustain its ideology yet address its criticism. My approach hinges on decoupling the solution-procedure process (applying analytic algorithm to a situation under inquiry) fr...

Levels of explanation in category learning

Multiple-system accounts of category learning are now entrenched in the cognitive neuroscience literature. This entrenchment sometimes seems impervious to behavioural evidence that contradicts or questions key assumptions of multiple-systems accounts. In this brief article, I consider relevant sources of evidence (behavioural, neuropsychological, neuro-imaging) and argue that the evidence from ...

Causal Efficacy , Content and Levels of Explanation