  Network neuroscience represents the brain as a collection of regions and
inter-regional connections. Given its ability to formalize systems-level
models, network neuroscience has generated unique explanations of neural
function and behavior. The mechanistic status of these explanations and how
they can contribute to and fit within the field of neuroscience as a whole has
received careful treatment from philosophers. However, these philosophical
contributions have not yet reached many neuroscientists. Here we complement
formal philosophical efforts by providing an applied perspective from and for
neuroscientists. We discuss the mechanistic status of the explanations offered
by network neuroscience and how they contribute to, enhance, and interdigitate
with other types of explanations in neuroscience. In doing so, we rely on
philosophical work concerning the role of causality, scale, and mechanisms in
scientific explanations. In particular, we make the distinction between an
explanation and the evidence supporting that explanation, and we argue for a
scale-free nature of mechanistic explanations. In the course of these
discussions, we hope to provide a useful applied framework in which network
neuroscience explanations can be exercised across scales and combined with
other fields of neuroscience to gain deeper insights into the brain and
behavior.
