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Welcome to the System wiki based on the 2 day meeting 10/2/19 to 10/3/19 with 4 face-to-face participants and some call ins.

Defs to help identify the relevant concepts we look at several views of mechanisms and systems:

1. “A mechanism for a behavior is a complex system that produces that behavior by the interaction of a number of parts, where the interactions between parts can be characterized by direct, change-relating generalizations.”

Behaviors are produced by/caused by mechanisms.

Behaviors function with input and output.

Mechanisms are complex systems/structures with interaction parts.

Part interactions can be characterized. Mechanisms can perform a function/create phenomena because of: its component parts (characteristics) their organization their operation/activity.

2. “Mechanisms are entities and activities organized such that they are productive of regular changes from start or set-up to finish or terminating conditions.”

Mechanisms are both entities and activities.

Mechanisms are organized/structured.

Mechanisms produce change.

Change has a start and an end (states) or they have cycles.

Starts and end states have conditions.

End states have terminating conditions.

States may be controlled as part of the mechanism operation.

Mechanism function may be viewed as a whole. Relevant papers include: Mechanisms in biomedical ontology Johannes Röhl From Ontologies in Biomedicine and Life Sciences (OBML 2011)

Glennan S: Rethinking mechanistic explanation. Philosophy of Science 2002, 69:342-353.