Causation is a central topic in many areas of philosophy. In metaphysics, philosophers want to know what causation is, and how it is related to laws of nature, probability, action, and freedom of the will. In epistemology, philosophers investigate how causal claims can be inferred from statistical data, and how causation is related to perception, knowledge and explanation. In the philosophy of mind, philosophers want to know whether and how the mind can be said to have causal efficacy, and in ethics, whether there is a moral distinction between acts and omissions and whether the moral value of an act can be judged according to its consequences. And causation is a contested concept in other fields of enquiry, such as biology, physics, and the law.
This book provides an in-depth and comprehensive overview of these and other topics, as well as the history of the causation debate from the ancient Greeks to the logical empiricists. The chapters provide surveys of contemporary debates, while often also advancing novel and controversial claims; and each includes a comprehensive bibliography and suggestions for further reading. The book is thus the most comprehensive source of information about causation currently available, and will be invaluable for upper-level undergraduates through to professional philosophers.
Helen Beebee, Christopher Hitchcock and Peter Menzies.: Introduction 1: Sarah Broadie: The Ancient Greeks 2: John Marenbon: The Medievals 3: Kenneth Clatterbaugh: The Early Moderns 4: Don Garrett: Hume 5: Eric Watkins: Kant 6: Michael Stöltzner: The Logical Empiricists 7: Stathis Psillos: Regularity Theories 8: L.A. Paul: Counterfactual Theories 9: Jon Williamson: Probabilistic Theories 10: Phil Dowe: Causal Process Theories 11: James Woodward: Agency and Interventionist Theories 12: Stephen Mumford: Causal Powers and Capacities 13: John Carroll: Anti-Reductionism 14: Christopher Hitchcock: Causal Modelling 15: Stuart Glennan: Mechanisms 16: Peter Godfrey-Smith: Causal Pluralism 17: Peter Menzies: Platitudes and Counterexamples 18: Michael Tooley: Causes, Laws and Ontology 19: Douglas Ehring: Causal Relata 20: Huw Price and Brad Weslake: The Time-Asymmetry of Causation 21: David Danks: The Psychology of Causal Perception and Reasoning 22: Helen Beebee: Causation and Observation 23: Clark Glymour: Causation and Statistical Inference 24: Cei Maslen, Terry Horgan and Helen Daly: Mental Causation 25: Alfred Mele: Causation, Action, and Free Will 26: Carolina Sartorio: Causation and Ethics 27: Ram Neta: Causal Theories of Knowledge and Perception 28: Frank Jackson: Causation and Semantic Content 29: Peter Lipton: Causation and Explanation 30: Paul Humphreys: Causation and Reduction 31: Marc Lange: Causation in Classical Mechanics 32: Lawrence Sklar: Causation in Statistical Mechanics 33: Richard Healey: Causation in Quantum Mechanics 34: Carl Hoefer: Causation in Spacetime Theories 35: Samir Okasha: Causation in Biology 36: Harold Kincaid: Causation in the Social Sciences 37: Jane Stapleton: Causation in the Law
Reviews for The Oxford Handbook of Causation
A comprehensive account of the nature and function of the self-conscious emotions. No library supporting work on the science of emotion should be without it....Essential. All readers, all levels. -- Choice <p> This is a comprehensive look at a very important topic, central to human functioning....Throughout, the book contains helpful tables and figures. The author and subject indexes are extensive and helpful. -- Doody's Review Service
