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Full Idea
Usually in science the powers/natures formula does lead to the imagining of hypothetical mechanisms which might be discovered to be real.
Gist of Idea
Powers and natures lead us to hypothesise underlying mechanisms, which may be real
Source
Harré,R./Madden,E.H. (Causal Powers [1975], 9.III)
Book Ref
Harré,R/Madden,E.H.: 'Causal Powers: A Theory of Natural Necessity' [Blackwell 1975], p.177
A Reaction
The underlying mechanism is what I take Aristotle to have proposed, and it is the instinctive explanation by children (charted by Susan Gelman).