Theories of causality : from antiquity to the present / John Losee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Losee, John.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Causation.

Physical Description:

viii, 210 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Publishers, [2011]

Summary:

Losee (emeritus, philosophy, Lafayette College) samples answers over the centuries to three questions: what types of entities qualify as causes and effects, what the relationship between cause and effect is, and how causal claims are to be assessed. He covers classical sources to 1900, early 20th-century theories and the dominance of the regularity view, quantum mechanics and the regularity-between-states view, and protests against the identification of causality and regularity. His topics include Francis Bacon on the exclusion of final causes, Bertrand Russell and N.R. Campbell on causal relations in science, the interpretation of quantum phenomena, and David Lewis and the counterfactual conditional view. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

I Classical Sources: Theories of Causality Prior to 1900

1 Aristotle on the Four Aspects of Causation 3

2 Medieval Science and the Discovery of Causes 7

3 Francis Bacon on the Exclusion of Final Causes 11

4 The Revival of Atomism 15

5 Causes, Impacts, and Action-at-a-Distance 19

6 David Hume on Causality 29

7 Kant's Response to Hume's Regularity View 37

8 J. S. Mill on Invariable and Unconditional Correlations 41

9 Options for a Theory of Causality ca. 1900 49

II Early Twentieth-Century Theories: Dominance of the Regularity View

10 C. S. Peirce on Causation and Causality 53

11 Karl Pearson's Version of the Regularity View 57

12 Bertrand Russell and N. R. Campbell on Causal Relations in Science 59

13 Causality in Physics: Revision of the Regularity View 63

III Quantum Mechanics and the Regularity-between-States View

14 The Interpretation of Quantum Phenomena 69

15 Causality and the Three Levels of Language in Quantum Mechanics 77

16 Philipp Frank on Causality and Inferability 85

IV Protests against the Identification of Causality and Regularity

17 Ducasse and the Singularity Definition 91

18 Cause as Sufficient Condition 95

19 Probabilistic Causality 105

20 Wesley Salmon on Processes and Interactions 113

21 Phil Dowe and the Conserved Quantity Theory 121

22 Causality and the Transfer of Energy or Momentum 129

23 Causality and Powers 135

24 Manipulability and Causality 143

25 David Lewis and the Counterfactual Conditional View 153

26 Criteria of Causal Status 169

27 Multiple Concepts of Causality 177

28 Conflicting Criteria of Causal Status 185.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9781412818322

141281832X

OCLC:

699758352