@article {3086510,
	title = {Plausibility versus richness in mechanistic models},
	journal = {PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY},
	volume = {26},
	number = {1},
	year = {2013},
	pages = {139{\textendash}152},
	abstract = {<p>In this paper we argue that in recent literature on mechanistic explanations, authors tend to conflate two distinct features that mechanistic models can have or fail to have: plausibility and richness. By plausibility, we mean the probability that a model is correct in the assertions it makes regarding the parts and operations of the mechanism, i.e., that the model is correct as a description of the actual mechanism. By richness, we mean the amount of detail the model gives about the actual mechanism. First, we argue that there is at least a conceptual reason to keep these two features distinct, since they can vary independently from each other: models can be highly plausible while providing almost no details, while they can also be highly detailed but plainly wrong. Next, focusing on Craver{\textquoteright}s continuum of how-possibly, to how-plausibly, to how-actually models, we argue that the conflation of plausibility and richness is harmful to the discussion because it leads to the view that both are necessary for a model to have explanatory power, while in fact, richness is only so with respect to a mechanism{\textquoteright}s activities, not its entities. This point is illustrated with two examples of functional models.</p>},
	issn = {0951-5089},
	doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2011.633693},
	author = {Gervais, Raoul and Weber, Erik}
}
@incollection {Gervais2012,
	title = {Pragmatic approaches to explanation applied to the cognitive sciences: two types of explanation-seeking questions compared},
	booktitle = {Logic, Philosophy and History of Science in Belgium II},
	year = {2012},
	pages = {131{\textendash}137},
	publisher = {Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van Belgi{\"e}},
	author = {Gervais, Raoul},
	editor = {Van Kerkhove, Bart and Libert, Thierry and Vanpaemel, Geert and Marage, Pierre}
}
