This book should be of interest not just to those of us who care about philosophy of neuroscience, but also to philosophers of biology and philosophers of mind more generally. I expect it to shape debate for a long time to come.

• Preface ; Chapter 1. Introduction: Starting With Neuroscience ; 1 Introduction ; 2 Explanations in Neuroscience Describe Mechanisms. ; 3 Explanations in Neuroscience are Multilevel ; 4 Explanations in Neuroscience Integrate Multiple Fields ; 5 Criteria of Adequacy for an Account of Explanation ; Chapter 2. Explanation and Causal Relevance ; 1 Introduction ; 2 How Calcium Explains Neurotransmitter Release ; 3 Explanation and Representation ; 4 The Covering-Law Model ; 5 The Unification Model ; 6 But What About the Hodgkin and Huxley Model? ; 7 Conclusion ; Chapter 3. Causal Relevance and Manipulation ; 1 Introduction ; 2 The Mechanism of Long-Term Potentiation ; 3 Causation as Transmission ; 3.1 Transmission and Causal Relevance ; 3.2 Omission and Prevention ; 4 Causation and Mechanical Connection ; 5 Manipulation and Causation ; 5.1 Ideal Interventions ; 5.2 Invariance, Fragility, and Contingency ; 5.3 Manipulation and Criteria for Explanation ; 5.4 Manipulation, Omission, and Prevention ; 6 Conclusion ; Chapter 4. The Norms of Mechanistic Explanation ; 1 Introduction ; 2 Two Normative Distinctions ; 3 Explaining the Action Potential ; 4 The Explanandum Phenomenon ; 5 Components ; 6 Activities ; 7 Organization ; 8 Constitutive Relevance ; 8.1 Relevance and the Boundaries of Mechanisms ; 8.2 Interlevel Experiments and Constitutive Relevance ; 8.21 Interference Experiments ; 8.22 Stimulation Experiments ; 8.23 Activation Experiments ; 8.3 Constitutive Relevance as Mutual Manipulability ; 9 Conclusion ; Chapter 5. A Field-Guide to Levels ; 1 Introduction ; 2 Levels of Spatial Memory ; 3 A Field-Guide to Levels ; 3.1 Levels of Science (Units and Products) ; 3.2 Levels of Nature ; 3.21 Causal Levels (Processing and Control) ; 3.22 Levels of Size ; 3.23 Levels of Composition ; 3.231 Levels of Mereology ; 3.232 Levels of Aggregativity ; 3.233 Levels of Mere Material/Spatial Containment ; 3.3 Levels of Mechanisms ; 4 Conclusion ; Chapter 6 Nonfundamental Explanation ; 1 Introduction ; 2. Causal Relevance and Making a Difference ; 3 Contrasts and Switch-Points ; 4 Causal Powers at Higher Levels of Mechanisms ; 5 Causal Relevance among Realized Properties ; 6 Conclusion ; Chapter 7. The Mosaic Unity of Neuroscience ; 1 Introduction ; 2 Reduction and the History of Neuroscience ; 2.1 LTP's Origins: Not a Top-Down Search but Intralevel Integration ; 2.2 The Mechanistic Shift ; 2.3 Mechanism as a Working Hypothesis ; 3 Intralevel Integration and the Mosaic Unity of Neuroscience ; 3.1 The Space of Possible Mechanisms ; 3.2 Specific Constraints on the Space of Possible Mechanisms ; 3.21 Componency Constraints ; 3.22 Spatial Constraints ; 3.23 Temporal Constraints ; 3.24 Active Constraints ; 3.3 Reduction and the Intralevel Integration of Fields ; 4 Interlevel Integration and the Mosaic Unity of Neuroscience ; 4.1 What is Interlevel Integration? ; 4.2 Constraints on Interlevel Integration ; 4.21 Accommodative Constraints ; 4.22 Spatial and Temporal Interlevel Constraints ; 4.23 Interlevel Manipulability Constraints ; 4.3 Mosaic Interlevel Integration ; 5 Conclusion: The Epistemic Function of the Mosaic Unity of Neuroscience