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Full Idea
Nested hierachical descriptions of mechanisms typically bottom out in lowest level mechanisms. …Bottoming out is relative …the explanation comes to an end, and description of lower-level mechanisms would be irrelevant.
Gist of Idea
Descriptions of explanatory mechanisms have a bottom level, where going further is irrelevant
Source
Machamer,P/Darden,L/Craver,C (Thinking About Mechanisms [2000], 5.1)
Book Ref
-: 'Philosophy of Science' [-], p.13
A Reaction
This seems to me exactly the right story about mechanism, and it is a story I am associating with essentialism. The relevance is ties to understanding. The lower level is either fully understood, or totally baffling.
Related Idea
Idea 16562 We understand something by presenting its low-level entities and activities [Machamer/Darden/Craver]