Fig. 6

Representation of the multiplicity of explanatory perspectives on an organismic entity in biology according to the mechanistic philosophy of Craver. Etiological explanations, constitutive explanations, and contextual explanations answer different research questions and complement each other. Etiological and constitutive explanations take a mechanistic perspective, and contextual explanations take a teleological perspective on the explanandum. For the sake of clarity, the etiological explanations are represented at only one level of biological organization, although they also involve higher and lower levels