Relating explanatory paradigms in cognitive neuroscience - pluralism, integration, and elimination (TU Berlin, 25-27 Feb 2026)

The goal of this workshop is to provide a forum for discussing how different kinds of explanatory practices in cognitive neuroscience relate. In many research programs in cognitive neuroscience formally distinct kinds of explanation are offered for the same or related phenomena, such as topological, computational, representational, mechanistic, dynamical, mathematical, constraint-based, efficient coding, pathway analysis, and functional explanations. Do these different types of explanation conflict? Is there space for plurality of different adequate explanations for the same phenomenon, which may conflict with one another, or do different explanations of the same phenomenon need to be integrated by an overarching framework? Is there a privileged explanatory paradigm, such that if an explanation of this sort becomes available, previous explanations are rendered obsolete? 
 
Since 2023, the MeReX project ("MEchanistic and REpresentational eXplanation in cognitive neuroscience") has organised biannual workshops on neuroscientific explanation. The 2026 special edition will hone in specifically on the issue of the relationship between different kinds of explanations provided in cognitive neuroscience, gathering philosophical experts who, as usual, ground their theories in careful consideration of actual neuroscientific explanatory practices, and scientists who work with different explanatory paradigms and pay attention to the theoretical underpinnings of their explanatory practices. 
 
The workshop will take place from 25th to 27th February 2026 at the TU Berlin.