Causation : a user's guide / L.A. Paul and Ned Hall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Paul, L. A. (Laurie Ann), 1966-

Hall, Edward J. (Edward Jonathan), 1966- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Causation.

Physical Description:

XXII, 277 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013.

Summary:

Causation is at once familiar and mysterious. Many believe that the causal relation is not directly observable, but that we nevertheless can somehow detect its presence in the world. Common sense seems to have a firm grip on causation, and much work in the natural and social sciences relies on the idea. Yet neither common sense nor extensive philosophical debate has led us to anything like agreement on the correct analysis of the concept of causation, or an account of the metaphysical nature of the causal relation. Contemporary debates are driven by opposing motivations, conflicting intuitions, and un-articulated methodological assumptions. Causation: A User's Guide cuts a clear path through this confusing but vital landscape. L. A. Paul and Ned Hall guide the reader through the most important philosophical treatments of causation, negotiating the terrain by taking a set of examples as landmarks. Special attention is given to counterfactual and related analyses of causation. Using a methodological principle based on the close examination of potential counterexamples, they clarify the central themes of the debate about causation, and cover questions about causation involving omissions or absences, preemption and other species of redundant causation, and the possibility that causation is not transitive. Along the way, Paul and Hall examine several contemporary proposals for analyzing the nature of causation and assess their merits and overall methodological cogency. The book is designed to be of value both to trained specialists and those coming to the problem of causation for the first time. It provides the reader, with a broad and sophisticated view of the metaphysics of the causal relation. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The scope and aims of this "guide" 1

1 Introduction 1

2 Some remarks on method 2

3 Overview of the project 4

2 Framework and preliminaries 7

1 Framework 7

2 The rival approaches 13

3 Methodological redux 24

4 Topics not addressed in detail 58

3 Varieties of redundant causation 70

1 Joint effects 70

2 Early preemption 74

3 Tampering 92

4 Late preemption 99

5 Overdetermination 143

6 Black-box cases 161

7 The lessons of redundant causation 168

4 Causation involving omissions 173

1 Three kinds of cases 173

2 The question of uniform treatment 176

3 Trouble with causation involving omissions 190

4 Methodology yet again 212

5 Accommodating omission-involving causation 212

5 Cases that threaten transitivity 215

1 Double prevention 215

2 Switching 232

6 Concluding remarks 245

1 A deep divide 245

2 The method by counterexample 249

3 The causal method 252

4 Cognate debates 257.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199673445

0199673446

9780199673452

0199673454

OCLC:

829221368