Causation Explanation And The Metaphysics Of Aspect

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Causation Explanation And The Metaphysics Of Aspect

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Author : Bradford Skow
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2018-12-06

Causation Explanation And The Metaphysics Of Aspect written by Bradford Skow and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2018-12-06 with Philosophy categories.

When you light a match it is the striking of it which causes the lighting; the presence of oxygen in the room is a background condition to the lighting. But in virtue of what is the striking a cause while the presence of oxygen is a background condition? When a fragile glass breaks it manifests a disposition to break when struck; however, not everything that breaks manifests this disposition. So under what conditions does something, in breaking, manifest fragility? After some therapy a man might stop being irascible and he might lose the disposition to become angry at the slightest provocation. If he does then he will have lost the disposition after an "internal" change. Can someone lose, or gain, a disposition merely as a result of a change in its external circumstances? Facts about the structure of society can, it seems, explain other facts. But how do they do it? Are there different kinds of structural explanations? Many things are said to be causes: a rock, when we say that the rock caused the window to break, and an event, when we say that the striking of the window caused its breakage. Which kind of causation - causation by events, or causation by things - is more basic? In Causation, Explanation, and the Metaphysics of Aspect, Bradford Skow defends answers to these questions. His answers rely on a pair of connected distinctions: first is the distinction between acting, or doing something, and not acting; second is the distinction between situations in which an event happens, and situations in which instead something is in some state. The first distinction is used to draw the second: an event happens if and only if something does something.

Efficient Causation

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Author : Tad M. Schmaltz
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Release Date : 2014

Efficient Causation written by Tad M. Schmaltz and has been published by Oxford University Press, USA this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2014 with Philosophy categories.

This volume is a collection of new essays by specialists that trace the concept of efficient causation from its discovery (or invention) in Ancient Greece, through its development in late antiquity, the medieval period, and modern philosophy, to its use in contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of science.

Kant And The Metaphysics Of Causality

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Author : Eric Watkins
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2005

Kant And The Metaphysics Of Causality written by Eric Watkins and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2005 with History categories.

A book about Kant's views on causality as understood in their proper historical context.

Reasons Why

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Author : Bradford Skow
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2016

Reasons Why written by Bradford Skow and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2016 with Philosophy categories.

Reasons Why first argues that what philosophers are really after, or at least should be after, when they seek a theory of explanation, is a theory of answers to why-questions. It then advances a thesis about what form a theory of answers to why-questions should take: a theory of answers to why-questions should say what it takes for one fact to be a reason why another fact obtains. The book's main thesis, then, is a theory of reasons why. Every reason why some event happened is either a cause, or a ground, of that event. Challenging this thesis are many examples philosophers have thought they have found of "non-causal explanations." Reasons Why uses two ideas to show that these examples are not counterexamples to the theory it defends. First is the idea that not every part of a good response to a why-question is part of an answer to that why-question. Second is the idea that not every reason why something is a reason why an event happened is itself a reason why that event happened. In the book's final chapter its theory of reasons why is extended to cover teleological answers to why-questions, and answers to why-questions that give an agent's reason for acting.

Causation And Its Basis In Fundamental Physics

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Author : Douglas Kutach
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Release Date : 2013-10

Causation And Its Basis In Fundamental Physics written by Douglas Kutach and has been published by Oxford University Press, USA this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013-10 with Philosophy categories.

This book is the first comprehensive attempt to solve what Hartry Field has called "the central problem in the metaphysics of causation": the problem of reconciling the need for causal notions in the special sciences with the limited role of causation in physics. If the world evolves fundamentally according to laws of physics, what place can be found for the causal regularities and principles identified by the special sciences? Douglas Kutach answers this question by invoking a novel distinction between fundamental and derivative reality and a complementary conception of reduction. He then constructs a framework that allows all causal regularities from the sciences to be rendered in terms of fundamental relations. By drawing on a methodology that focuses on explaining the results of specially crafted experiments, Kutach avoids the endless task of catering to pre-theoretical judgments about causal scenarios. This volume is a detailed case study that uses fundamental physics to elucidate causation, but technicalities are eschewed so that a wide range of philosophers can profit. The book is packed with innovations: new models of events, probability, counterfactual dependence, influence, and determinism. These lead to surprising implications for topics like Newcomb's paradox, action at a distance, Simpson's paradox, and more. Kutach explores the special connection between causation and time, ultimately providing a never-before-presented explanation for the direction of causation. Along the way, readers will discover that events cause themselves, that low barometer readings do cause thunderstorms after all, and that we humans routinely affect the past more than we affect the future.

The Powers Metaphysic

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Author : Neil E. Williams
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 2019

The Powers Metaphysic written by Neil E. Williams and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2019 with Philosophy categories.

Neil E. Williams develops a systematic metaphysics centred on the idea of powers, as a rival to neo-Humeanism, the dominant systematic metaphysics in philosophy today. Williams takes powers to be inherently causal properties and uses them as the foundation of his explanations of causation, persistence, laws, and modality.

Understanding Mental Causation

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Author : Andrea White
language : en
Publisher: White Rose University Press
Release Date : 2024-12-17

Understanding Mental Causation written by Andrea White and has been published by White Rose University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2024-12-17 with Philosophy categories.

Understanding Mental Causation proposes a new, non-relational theory of mental causation. Andrea White believes that contemporary philosophy of mind labours under a misapprehension of what mental causation is supposed to be. This volume explains where the leading theories go astray, and how the new theory proposed solves critical problems for philosophers of mind and action. Ordinary experience suggests that what we do with our bodies causally depends, somehow, on what is going on in our minds. However, the problem of how to understand the causal relationship between mind and body remains. Contemporary philosophy of mind is shaped by the question: how is it possible for the mental to causally interact with the physical? Mental causation is often presented as a cause-effect relation between mental and physical entities. This understanding of mental causation is widely endorsed because it seems like a straightforward explanation of what is going on when people act intentionally. Desires and beliefs are seen as causes of the actions they explain, entailing the existence of causal relations between mental items and physical events. White calls this the 'causalist' view of intentional action. This view is not universally accepted. The 'non-causalist' view denies that intentional action entails the existence of causal relations between mental items and physical events. However, non-causalists reach this conclusion by arguing that explanations of intentional actions which cite beliefs or desires are not usually causal explanations at all. White presents a theory of intentional action that falls between the 'causalist' and 'non-causalist' views. She rejects the idea that as-a-cause is how we should understand the place of mentality in intentional action. Concepts like belief, desire and intention do not refer to items which can stand in causal relations to actions or physical events. However, like causalists, she holds that explanations of intentional actions which cite the agent's thoughts do give causal information. This intermediary view demands a new theory about the causation that is on display when human beings act intentionally, one that does not reduce mental causation to a relation between mental items and physical events. Orthodox theories of causation, inspired by David Hume, assume that causation is always a relation between events. Therefore, the causation demonstrated in intentional action must be a relation, because all causation is, and will count as mental causation if and only if at least one of the terms of that relation is a mental entity. White challenges this orthodoxy by presenting her own non-relational theory of causation. Denying causation is always a relation, she holds instead that causation is a general type of process in which substances engage and that exercising a causal power is to engage in a process. White shows how this novel theory can be used to provide a better understanding of intentional action and the mental causation associated with it. She suggests that to act intentionally is to engage in a process and, as such, to exercise a power - but a power of a special sort. The power to act intentionally is a power to structure one's own activities so that they demonstrate a pattern - a pattern which is only revealed by attributing mental states to the agent. So, when an agent acts intentionally, they engage in the process of mental causation because the agent is manifesting a special power to organise their activities into a pattern that can be made sense of by appeal to mental concepts. Broadening our understanding of causation, and more specifically incorporating the concepts 'power' and 'process', opens up new ways of understanding intentional action and mental causation. In Understanding Mental Causation, White presents a compelling new account in this key area of philosophy of mind.

Oxford Studies In Metaphysics Volume 13

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Author : Karen Bennett
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2023-01-24

Oxford Studies In Metaphysics Volume 13 written by Karen Bennett and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2023-01-24 with Philosophy categories.

Much of the most interesting work in philosophy today is metaphysical in character. Oxford Studies in Metaphysics is a forum for the best new work in this flourishing field. OSM offers a broad view of the subject, featuring not only the traditionally central topics such as existence, identity, modality, time, and causation, but also the rich clusters of metaphysical questions in neighbouring fields, such as philsophy of mind and philosophy of science. Besides independent essays, volumes will often contain a critical essay on a recent book, or a symposium that allows participants to respond to one another's criticisms and questions. Anyone who wants to know what's happening in metaphysics can start here.

Actual Causality

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Author : Joseph Y. Halpern
language : en
Publisher: MIT Press
Release Date : 2016-08-12

Actual Causality written by Joseph Y. Halpern and has been published by MIT Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2016-08-12 with Computers categories.

Explores actual causality, and such related notions as degree of responsibility, degree of blame, and causal explanation. The goal is to arrive at a definition of causality that matches our natural language usage and is helpful, for example, to a jury deciding a legal case, a programmer looking for the line of code that cause some software to fail, or an economist trying to determine whether austerity caused a subsequent depression.

Reason Metaphysics And Mind

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Author : Alvin Plantinga
language : en
Publisher: OUP USA
Release Date : 2012-02-09

Reason Metaphysics And Mind written by Alvin Plantinga and has been published by OUP USA this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2012-02-09 with Biography & Autobiography categories.

Each of the essays in this volume engages with some particular aspect of philosopher Alvin Plantinga's views on metaphysics, epistemology, or philosophy of religion.