What is the exact difference between the meanings of “constitute” and “conduce towards” in this context?

What is the difference between the meanings of “constitute” and “conduce towards” in the following context? Based on the meaning of both, it seems to me that both mean something to the effect of “to amount to” or “contribute to the generation of”, but the “both” used by the writer seems to imply that they indicate two essentially different meanings.

This book considers films as philosophical investigations. And submits
that these investigations both constitute and conduce towards
(both) true intel- lectual freedom and ecological wisdom. And that
these two are in the end two sides of the same coin.