Neuroscientific Explanation

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/W_MA_NSNX

Course Objective

Students become familiar with three types of explanation in neuroscience: mechanistic explanation, causal explanation and topological explanation. Learning objectives: 1. You can explain, analyze and evaluate the different viewpoints in contemporary debates on these three types of explanation in neuroscience (mechanistic , causal and topological) 2. You can present and discuss these viewpoints in a critical yet constructive manner, both verbally and in writing. 3. You can identify, analyze and assess how the three types of explanation are used in neuroscientific research and how this research is translated to the general public and professional practice (e.g. clinical psychiatry). 4. You have the ability to provide policy recommendations based on theoretical and normative considerations regarding these different neuroscientific explanatory strategies.

Course Content

It is commonly accepted that mechanistic explanation involves structural and functional decomposition
- breaking down a system into concrete parts and activities in order to identify the causal relationships that realize the phenomenon. This strategy has had considerable success in various neuroscientific sub-disciplines, including molecular, cognitive and computational neuroscience. Systems neuroscience, however, with its focus on the study of networks at various levels of brain organization, has proven to be a challenge. Systems neuroscientists seem to abstract away from concrete parts and activities, instead focusing on the mathematical or topological properties of connectivity patterns and how they determine the behavioral dynamics of the systems exhibiting those patterns. In this course we discuss the ins and outs of both approaches and how they are related to causal explanation – in particular Woodward’s interventionist approach. We also investigate how the three types of explanation (mechanistic, causal and topological) are used in neuroscientific research and how this research is translated to the general public and professional practice (e.g. clinical psychiatry).

Teaching Methods

Interactive lectures

Method of Assessment

Methods of assessment (the final grade is determined by a weighted average of three components): 1. Case-study analysis (25% of the final mark; assessment of learning objectives 2, 3, 4) 2. Presentation (25% of the final mark; assessment of learning objectives 1, 2 ) 3. Final paper (50% of the final mark; assessment of learning objectives 1, 2, 3, 4)

Literature

will be made available online for registered students

Target Audience

Students following the Philosophy of Neuroscience Master. Also open to other students.

Explanation Canvas

Course material will be made available on Canvas