Ross, Lauren N. and Jirsa, Viktor and McIntosh, Anthony (2024) The Possibility Space Concept in Neuroscience: Possibilities, Constraints, and Explanation. [Preprint]

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Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of the possibility space concept in neuroscience and its role in understanding and explaining complex systems, such as the brain. Our analysis merges neuroscience examples with recent work in philosophy of science to suggest that the notion of a system’s possibility space involves two essential types of constraints, which we call hard and soft constraints. Our analysis focuses on a domain-general notion of possibility space, present in manifold frameworks and representations, phase space diagrams in dynamical systems theory, and paradigmatic cases such as Waddington’s epigenetic landscape model. After building the framework with such cases, we apply it to three main examples in neuroscience: adaptability, resilience, and phenomenology. We explore how this framework supports a philosophical toolkit for neuroscience and how it helps advance recent work in philosophy of science on constraints, scientific explanation, and impossibility explanations. We show how fruitful connections between neuroscience and philosophy can support conceptual clarity, theoretical advances, and the identification of similar systems across different domains in neuroscience.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Ross, Lauren N. rossl@uci.edu 0000-0003-0771-7189 Jirsa, Viktor viktor.jirsa@univ-amu.fr 0000-0002-8251-8860 McIntosh, Anthony randy_mcintosh@sfu.ca 0000-0002-1784-5662
Keywords:	constraints, explanation, dynamical systems, complexity
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation Specific Sciences > Complex Systems Specific Sciences > Neuroscience > Cognitive Neuroscience Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Neuroscience
Depositing User:	Prof Randy McIntosh
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2024 18:00
Last Modified:	10 Jul 2024 18:00
Item ID:	23682
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation Specific Sciences > Complex Systems Specific Sciences > Neuroscience > Cognitive Neuroscience Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Neuroscience
Date:	5 July 2024
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/23682

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