Causal Powers

Causal Powers

Author: Jonathan D. Jacobs

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 0198796579

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Causal powers are ubiquitous. Electrons are negatively charged; they have the power to repel other electrons. Water is a solvent; it has the power to dissolve salt. We use concepts of causal powers and their relatives-dispositions, capacities, abilities, and so on-to describe the world around us, both in everyday life and in scientific practice. But what is it about the world that makes such descriptions apt? This collection brings together new and important work by both emerging scholars and those who helped shape the field on the nature of causal powers, and the connections between causal powers and other phenomena within metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mind. Contributors discuss how one who takes causal powers to be in some sense irreducible should think about laws of nature, scientific practice, causation, modality, space and time, persistence, and the metaphysics of mind.


Book Synopsis Causal Powers by : Jonathan D. Jacobs

Download or read book Causal Powers written by Jonathan D. Jacobs and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Causal powers are ubiquitous. Electrons are negatively charged; they have the power to repel other electrons. Water is a solvent; it has the power to dissolve salt. We use concepts of causal powers and their relatives-dispositions, capacities, abilities, and so on-to describe the world around us, both in everyday life and in scientific practice. But what is it about the world that makes such descriptions apt? This collection brings together new and important work by both emerging scholars and those who helped shape the field on the nature of causal powers, and the connections between causal powers and other phenomena within metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mind. Contributors discuss how one who takes causal powers to be in some sense irreducible should think about laws of nature, scientific practice, causation, modality, space and time, persistence, and the metaphysics of mind.

Causal Powers

Causal Powers

Author: Rom Harré

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 1975

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Causal Powers by : Rom Harré

Download or read book Causal Powers written by Rom Harré and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 1975 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Causal Power of Social Structures

The Causal Power of Social Structures

Author: Dave Elder-Vass

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-06-17

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1139488198

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The problem of structure and agency has been the subject of intense debate in the social sciences for over 100 years. This book offers a solution. Using a critical realist version of the theory of emergence, Dave Elder-Vass argues that, instead of ascribing causal significance to an abstract notion of social structure or a monolithic concept of society, we must recognise that it is specific groups of people that have social structural power. Some of these groups are entities with emergent causal powers, distinct from those of human individuals. Yet these powers also depend on the contributions of human individuals, and this book examines the mechanisms through which interactions between human individuals generate the causal powers of some types of social structures. The Causal Power of Social Structures makes particularly important contributions to the theory of human agency and to our understanding of normative institutions.


Book Synopsis The Causal Power of Social Structures by : Dave Elder-Vass

Download or read book The Causal Power of Social Structures written by Dave Elder-Vass and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-06-17 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The problem of structure and agency has been the subject of intense debate in the social sciences for over 100 years. This book offers a solution. Using a critical realist version of the theory of emergence, Dave Elder-Vass argues that, instead of ascribing causal significance to an abstract notion of social structure or a monolithic concept of society, we must recognise that it is specific groups of people that have social structural power. Some of these groups are entities with emergent causal powers, distinct from those of human individuals. Yet these powers also depend on the contributions of human individuals, and this book examines the mechanisms through which interactions between human individuals generate the causal powers of some types of social structures. The Causal Power of Social Structures makes particularly important contributions to the theory of human agency and to our understanding of normative institutions.

Dispositions and Causal Powers

Dispositions and Causal Powers

Author: Max Kistler

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 9780754654254

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Dispositions are everywhere. We say that a wall is hard, that water quenches thirst and is transparent, that dogs can swim and oak trees can let their leaves fall, and that acid has the power to corrode metals. All these statements express attributions of dispositions, be they physical, physiological or psychological, yet there is much philosophical debate about how far, if at all, dispositional predicates can have complete meaning or figure in causal explanations. This collection of essays, by leading international researchers, examine the case for realism with respect to dispositions and causal powers in both metaphysics and science. Among the issues debated in this book is whether dispositions can be analyzed in terms of conditionals, whether all dispositions have a so-called categorical basis and, if they do, what is the relation between the disposition and its basis.


Book Synopsis Dispositions and Causal Powers by : Max Kistler

Download or read book Dispositions and Causal Powers written by Max Kistler and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2007 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dispositions are everywhere. We say that a wall is hard, that water quenches thirst and is transparent, that dogs can swim and oak trees can let their leaves fall, and that acid has the power to corrode metals. All these statements express attributions of dispositions, be they physical, physiological or psychological, yet there is much philosophical debate about how far, if at all, dispositional predicates can have complete meaning or figure in causal explanations. This collection of essays, by leading international researchers, examine the case for realism with respect to dispositions and causal powers in both metaphysics and science. Among the issues debated in this book is whether dispositions can be analyzed in terms of conditionals, whether all dispositions have a so-called categorical basis and, if they do, what is the relation between the disposition and its basis.

One True Cause

One True Cause

Author: Andrew R. Platt

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2020-08-07

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0190941804

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Occasionalism is the thesis that God alone is the true cause of everything that happens in the world, and created substances are merely "occasional causes." This doctrine was originally developed in medieval Islamic theology, and was widely rejected in the works of Christian authors in medieval Europe. Yet despite its heterodoxy, occasionalism was revived in the 1660s by followers of the philosophy of René Descartes, perhaps the most famous among them the French philosopher Nicolas Malebranche, who popularized this doctrine. What led Cartesian thinkers to adopt occasionalism? Since the 1970s has there been a growing body of literature on Malebranche and the movement he engendered. There is also a new and growing body of work on the Cartesian occasionalists before Malebranche--including Arnold Geulincx, Geraud de Cordemoy, and Louis de la Forge. But to date there has not been a systematic, book-length study of the reasoning that led Cartesian thinkers to adopt occasionalism, and the relationship of their arguments to Descartes' own views. This book expands on recent scholarship to provide the first comprehensive account of seventeenth century occasionalism. Part I contrasts occasionalism with a theory of divine providence developed by Thomas Aquinas, in response to medieval occasionalists; it shows that Descartes' philosophy is compatible with Aquinas' theory, on which God "concurs" in all the actions of created beings. Part II reconstructs the arguments of Cartesians--such as Cordemoy and La Forge--who used Cartesian physics to argue for occasionalism. Finally, the book shows how Malebranche's case for occasionalism combines philosophical theology with Cartesian metaphysics and mechanistic science.


Book Synopsis One True Cause by : Andrew R. Platt

Download or read book One True Cause written by Andrew R. Platt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-08-07 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Occasionalism is the thesis that God alone is the true cause of everything that happens in the world, and created substances are merely "occasional causes." This doctrine was originally developed in medieval Islamic theology, and was widely rejected in the works of Christian authors in medieval Europe. Yet despite its heterodoxy, occasionalism was revived in the 1660s by followers of the philosophy of René Descartes, perhaps the most famous among them the French philosopher Nicolas Malebranche, who popularized this doctrine. What led Cartesian thinkers to adopt occasionalism? Since the 1970s has there been a growing body of literature on Malebranche and the movement he engendered. There is also a new and growing body of work on the Cartesian occasionalists before Malebranche--including Arnold Geulincx, Geraud de Cordemoy, and Louis de la Forge. But to date there has not been a systematic, book-length study of the reasoning that led Cartesian thinkers to adopt occasionalism, and the relationship of their arguments to Descartes' own views. This book expands on recent scholarship to provide the first comprehensive account of seventeenth century occasionalism. Part I contrasts occasionalism with a theory of divine providence developed by Thomas Aquinas, in response to medieval occasionalists; it shows that Descartes' philosophy is compatible with Aquinas' theory, on which God "concurs" in all the actions of created beings. Part II reconstructs the arguments of Cartesians--such as Cordemoy and La Forge--who used Cartesian physics to argue for occasionalism. Finally, the book shows how Malebranche's case for occasionalism combines philosophical theology with Cartesian metaphysics and mechanistic science.

Powers and Capacities in Philosophy

Powers and Capacities in Philosophy

Author: Ruth Groff

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 041588988X

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Published in 2012, Powers and Capacities in Philosophy is a valuable contribution to the field of Philosophy.


Book Synopsis Powers and Capacities in Philosophy by : Ruth Groff

Download or read book Powers and Capacities in Philosophy written by Ruth Groff and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in 2012, Powers and Capacities in Philosophy is a valuable contribution to the field of Philosophy.

A Critical Introduction to Causal Powers and Dispositions

A Critical Introduction to Causal Powers and Dispositions

Author: Ruth Groff

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Published: 2025-05-08

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781472530585

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A Critical Introduction to Causation and Causal Powers responds to a groundswell of interest in the topic of causal powers in contemporary metaphysics, presenting a fresh systematic overview of the realist literature,debates and arguments. Introducing the topic via the lens of a contrast between passivism and anti-passivism, the contrast is established in the opening historical overview, plotting the course from Aristotle to early modern rationalism, through to Hume, Reid, Kant and Mill. As well as covering contemporary and 20th century neo-Humean accounts, this introduction includes a review of foundational work on causal powers and dispositional properties in the 1970s, taking care to include both a descriptive and an analytic component. Exploring contemporary anti-passivist thinking about causation, it covers leading theories of causation and provides powers-based approaches to matters such as laws, essences, necessitation, determinism, pandispositionalism, transitivity and induction. The ascription of causal powers to different kinds of potential causal bearer is also addressed: individual agents, sociological phenomena; abstractions and absences. Offering a balanced approach to this key metaphysical topic, A Critical Introduction to Causation and Causal Powers not only introduces debates amongst anti-passivists, but explains throughout how the same issues are handled by passivists. With study questions and references for further reading at the end of each chapter, this is an accessible, up-to-date overview designed for students and researchers working in metaphysics today.


Book Synopsis A Critical Introduction to Causal Powers and Dispositions by : Ruth Groff

Download or read book A Critical Introduction to Causal Powers and Dispositions written by Ruth Groff and published by Bloomsbury Academic. This book was released on 2025-05-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Critical Introduction to Causation and Causal Powers responds to a groundswell of interest in the topic of causal powers in contemporary metaphysics, presenting a fresh systematic overview of the realist literature,debates and arguments. Introducing the topic via the lens of a contrast between passivism and anti-passivism, the contrast is established in the opening historical overview, plotting the course from Aristotle to early modern rationalism, through to Hume, Reid, Kant and Mill. As well as covering contemporary and 20th century neo-Humean accounts, this introduction includes a review of foundational work on causal powers and dispositional properties in the 1970s, taking care to include both a descriptive and an analytic component. Exploring contemporary anti-passivist thinking about causation, it covers leading theories of causation and provides powers-based approaches to matters such as laws, essences, necessitation, determinism, pandispositionalism, transitivity and induction. The ascription of causal powers to different kinds of potential causal bearer is also addressed: individual agents, sociological phenomena; abstractions and absences. Offering a balanced approach to this key metaphysical topic, A Critical Introduction to Causation and Causal Powers not only introduces debates amongst anti-passivists, but explains throughout how the same issues are handled by passivists. With study questions and references for further reading at the end of each chapter, this is an accessible, up-to-date overview designed for students and researchers working in metaphysics today.

Causal Powers

Causal Powers

Author: Harre Madden Staff

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Published: 1980-07-01

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 9780631120315

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Book Synopsis Causal Powers by : Harre Madden Staff

Download or read book Causal Powers written by Harre Madden Staff and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 1980-07-01 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Powers Metaphysic

The Powers Metaphysic

Author: Neil E. Williams

Publisher:

Published: 2019-09-12

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 0198833571

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Systematic metaphysics is defined by its task of solving metaphysical problems through the repeated application of single, fundamental ontology. The dominant contemporary metaphysic is that of neo-Humeanism, built on a static ontology typified by its rejection of basic causal and modalfeatures. This book offers a radically distinct metaphysic, one that turns the status quo on its head. Starting with a foundational ontology of inherently causal properties known as "powers", Neil E. Williams develops a metaphysic that appeals to powers in explanations of causation, persistence,laws, and modality. Powers are properties that have their causal natures internal to them: they are responsible for the effects in the world. A unique account of powers is advanced, one that understands this internal nature in terms of blueprint of potential interaction types. After the presentationof the powers ontology, Williams offers solutions to broad metaphysical puzzles, some of which take on different forms in light of the new tools that are available. The defence of the ontology comes from the virtues of metaphysic it can be used to develop. Particular attention is paid to theproblems of causation and persistence, simultaneously solving them as is casts them in a new light. The resultant powers metaphysic is offered as a systematic alternative to neo-Humeanism.


Book Synopsis The Powers Metaphysic by : Neil E. Williams

Download or read book The Powers Metaphysic written by Neil E. Williams and published by . This book was released on 2019-09-12 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Systematic metaphysics is defined by its task of solving metaphysical problems through the repeated application of single, fundamental ontology. The dominant contemporary metaphysic is that of neo-Humeanism, built on a static ontology typified by its rejection of basic causal and modalfeatures. This book offers a radically distinct metaphysic, one that turns the status quo on its head. Starting with a foundational ontology of inherently causal properties known as "powers", Neil E. Williams develops a metaphysic that appeals to powers in explanations of causation, persistence,laws, and modality. Powers are properties that have their causal natures internal to them: they are responsible for the effects in the world. A unique account of powers is advanced, one that understands this internal nature in terms of blueprint of potential interaction types. After the presentationof the powers ontology, Williams offers solutions to broad metaphysical puzzles, some of which take on different forms in light of the new tools that are available. The defence of the ontology comes from the virtues of metaphysic it can be used to develop. Particular attention is paid to theproblems of causation and persistence, simultaneously solving them as is casts them in a new light. The resultant powers metaphysic is offered as a systematic alternative to neo-Humeanism.

Dispositions and Causes

Dispositions and Causes

Author: Toby Handfield

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2009-02-05

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 0191565415

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In recent decades, the analysis of causal relations has become a topic of central importance in analytic philosophy. More recently, dispositional properties have also become objects of intense study. Both of these phenomena appear to be intimately related to counterfactual conditionals and other modal phenomena such as objective chance, but little work has been done to directly relate them. Dispositions and Causes contains ten essays by scholars working in both metaphysics and in philosophy of science, examining the relation between dispositional and causal concepts. Particular issues discussed include the possibility of reducing dispositions to causes, and vice versa; the possibility of a nominalist theory of causal powers; the attempt to reduce all metaphysical necessity to dispositional properties; the relationship between dispositions, causes, and laws of nature; the role of causal capacities in explaining the success of scientific inquiry; the grounding of dispositions and causes in objective chances; and the type of causal power required for free agency. The introductory chapter contains a detailed overview of recent work in the area, providing a helpful entry to the literature for non-specialists.


Book Synopsis Dispositions and Causes by : Toby Handfield

Download or read book Dispositions and Causes written by Toby Handfield and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-02-05 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent decades, the analysis of causal relations has become a topic of central importance in analytic philosophy. More recently, dispositional properties have also become objects of intense study. Both of these phenomena appear to be intimately related to counterfactual conditionals and other modal phenomena such as objective chance, but little work has been done to directly relate them. Dispositions and Causes contains ten essays by scholars working in both metaphysics and in philosophy of science, examining the relation between dispositional and causal concepts. Particular issues discussed include the possibility of reducing dispositions to causes, and vice versa; the possibility of a nominalist theory of causal powers; the attempt to reduce all metaphysical necessity to dispositional properties; the relationship between dispositions, causes, and laws of nature; the role of causal capacities in explaining the success of scientific inquiry; the grounding of dispositions and causes in objective chances; and the type of causal power required for free agency. The introductory chapter contains a detailed overview of recent work in the area, providing a helpful entry to the literature for non-specialists.