Yet since mechanisms may differ significantly between model and target, it needs to be explained how the suitability of the model could be established given only very limited information about the target. Moreover, since model and target are rarely alike in all relevant respects, an adequate account of extrapolation must also explain how extrapolation can be legitimate even when some causally relevant differences are present. Steel explains how his proposal can answer these challenges, illustrates his account with a detailed biological case study, and explores its implications for such traditional philosophy of science topics ceteris paribus laws and reductionism. Finally, he considers whether mechanisms-based extrapolation can work in social science.

PREFACE
1. Extrapolation and Heterogeneity
2. Interventions, Causal Effects, and Causal Relevance
3. Causal Structure and Mechanisms
4. The Disruption Principle
5. Extrapolation, Capacities, and Mechanisms
6. Ceteris Paribus and Extrapolation
7. Reduction and Corrective Asymmetry
8. Extrapolation in Social Science
9. Social Mechanisms and Process Tracing
10. Looking Back and Ahead
APPENDIX
REFERENCES