Pence, David (2017) Potential Controversies: Causation and the Hodgkin and Huxley Equations. [Preprint]

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Abstract

The import of Hodgkin and Huxley’s classic model of the action potential has been hotly debated in recent years, with particular controversy surrounding claims by prominent proponents of mechanistic explanation (Bogen, 2008; Craver, 2008). For these authors, the Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) model is an excellent predictive tool but ultimately lacks causal/explanatory import. What is more, they claim that this is how Hodgkin and Huxley themselves saw the model. In the following, I argue that these claims rest on a problematic reading of the work. Hodgkin and Huxley’s model is both causal and, in an important sense, explanatory.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Pence, David pence.evan@gmail.com 0000-0002-0331-7164
Keywords:	Neuroscience; Explanation; Causation; Hodgkin and Huxley
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Neuroscience
Depositing User:	David David Pence
Date Deposited:	17 Apr 2018 18:04
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2018 18:04
Item ID:	14567
Official URL:	https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/...
DOI or Unique Handle:	https://doi.org/10.1086/694040
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Neuroscience
Date:	December 2017
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/14567

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