MCCHE Precision Convergence Webinar Series with Dr. Lauren N. Ross
Distinctions Among Causation in Neuroscience and Biology: A Theoretical Framework to Support Smart Sciences for Real-World Transformation
Dr. Lauren N. Ross
University of California, Irvine
With a high-level panel of leaders in science, technology, on-the-ground action, investment, and policy
Are there different types of causation in neuroscience and biology? What does such a view entail and does scientific work in these fields support it? Answers to these questions should rely on rigorous definitions of causation, but they should also capture the diversity and complexity of causal systems in the world. This talk explores distinctions among causation in these sciences and it provides a theoretical framework for addressing these questions. In capturing distinctions among causation - sometimes referred to as causal diversity and causal pluralism - three types of claims should be distinguished. These concern whether there are different: (1) definitions of causation (2) methods used to establish causation, and (3) causal structures in the world, which are not tied to differences in defining causality. Separating these claims can help researchers examine (i) whether causality is defined in different ways in their field, (ii) if so, whether this is problematic or not, (iii) how methods for establishing causality relate to definitions of it, and (iv) how some types of causal diversity reflect different causal structures, as opposed to different definitions of causation. This framework is draws on mainstream philosophical accounts of causation and examples of causal reasoning in neuroscience and biology.
About the speaker
Lauren N. Ross, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor in Logic and Philosophy of Science at UC Irvine. Her research concerns causal reasoning and explanation in neuroscience and biology. A significant amount of her research explores causal diversity - different types of causes, causal relationships, and causal systems present in scientific contexts. This research has focused on causal systems such as mechanisms, pathways, and cascades, and causal relationships that differ with respect to their stability, specificity, and reversibility. Her work identifies the features characteristic of these causal systems and their implications for how these systems are studied and how they behave. Ross’s research has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award, a Humboldt Experienced Researcher Fellowship, and an Editor’s Choice Award at The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.
About the series
The Precision Convergence series is launched to catalyze unique synergy between, on the one hand, novel partnerships across sciences, sectors and jurisdictions around targeted domains of real-world solutions, and on the other hand, a next generation convergence of AI with advanced research computing and other data and digital architectures such as PSC’s Bridges-2, and supporting data sharing frameworks such as HuBMAP, informing in a real time as possible the design, deployment and monitoring of solutions for adaptive real-world behavior and context.
The Precision Convergence Webinar Series is co-hosted by The McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics (MCCHE) at McGill University and The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, a joint computational research center between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.