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The Predictive Turn in Neuroscience
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 May 2022
Abstract
Neuroscientists have in recent years turned to building models that aim to generate predictions rather than explanations. This “predictive turn” has swept across domains including law, marketing, and neuropsychiatry. Yet the norms of prediction remain undertheorized relative to those of explanation. I examine two styles of predictive modeling and show how they exemplify the normative dynamics at work in prediction. I propose an account of how predictive models, conceived of as technological devices for aiding decision-making, can come to be adequate for purposes that are defined by both their guiding research questions and their larger social context of application.
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- © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Philosophy of Science Association
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