ABSTRACT
This chapter gives an outline of the structure of mechanistic explanation in engineering science and organizes this discussion around two features that extend the mechanistic program toward explanation when applied to engineering science. It shows that in engineering, two distinct sub-types of role function—"behavior function" and "effect function"—are employed in the functional individuation of mechanisms, rather than role function simpliciter. The chapter discusses connections between engineering and systems biology, focusing on the usage of engineering principles in the construction of mechanistic explanations in systems biology. It also discusses a case of heat shock response in Escherichia coli to illustrate the role of engineering principles in mechanistic explanation in systems biology. The notion of "robustness" looms large in the E. coli case, as well as in systems biology and engineering in general. Finally, cases from engineering and systems biology give general insights into the explanatory power of mechanistic models in specific explanation-seeking contexts.
