TY - CHAP A2 - Metzinger, Thomas K. A2 - Windt, Jennifer M. AB - Componential mechanism (Craver 2008) is an increasingly influential framework for understanding the norms of good explanation in neuroscience and beyond. Componential mechanism “construes explanation as a matter of decomposing systems into their parts and showing how those parts are organized together in such a way as to exhibit the explanandum phenomenon” (Craver 2008, p. 109). Although this clearly describes some instances of successful explanation, I argue here that as currently formulated the framework is too narrow to capture the full range of good mechanistic explanations in the neurosciences. The centerpiece of this essay is a case study of Starburst Amacrine Cells —a type of motion-sensitive cell in mammalian retina —for which function emerges from structure in a way that appears to violate the conditions specified by componential mechanism as currently conceived. I argue that the case of Starburst Amacrine Cells should move us to replace the notion of mechanistic componential constitution with a more general notion of enabling constraint. Introducing enabling constraints as a conceptual tool will allow us to capture and appropriately characterize a wider class of structure-function relationships in the brain and elsewhere. AU - Anderson, Michael L. CY - Frankfurt am Main DO - 10.15502/9783958570429 KW - Componential constitution, Constitution, Constraint, Enabling constraint, Explanation, Functional levels, Levels, Mechanisms, Mechanistic explanation, Neuroscientific explanation, Spatial levels, Starburst amacrine cells, Structure function mapping LA - English PB - MIND Group PY - 2015 SE - 1(T) SN - 9783958570429 ST - Beyond Componential Constitution in the Brain: Starburst Amacrine Cells and Enabling Constraints T2 - Open MIND TI - Beyond Componential Constitution in the Brain: Starburst Amacrine Cells and Enabling Constraints UR - https://open-mind.net/papers/beyond-componential-constitution-in-the-brain-starburst-amacrine-cells-and-enabling-constraints ID - 1