DOI: 10.1017/psa.2026.10231 ISSN: 0031-8248
Non-causal Explanations of Social and Biological Networks
Daniel Kostić, Christopher PincockAbstract
One argument that all explanations are causal explanations is that no extant analysis of non-causal explanations can respect mandatory restrictions on explanation. After articulating two such restrictions, Asymmetry and Directionality, we consider how they work with respect to an explanation from network theory that applies to both social and brain networks. We argue that there are two viable ways to make sense of this explanation. One approach is broadly ontic, while another is pragmatic.