Abstract
Philosophical accounts of causation have traditionally been framed as attempts to analyze the concept of a cause. In recent years, however, a number of philosophers have proposed instead that causation be empirically reduced to some relation uncovered by the natural sciences: e.g., a relation of energy transfer. This paper argues that the project of empirical analysis lacks a clearly defined methodology, leaving it uncertain how such views are to be evaluated. It proposes several possible accounts of empirical analysis and argues that the most promising approach would treat it as a contingent identity discovered by identifying the relation (or relations) that most nearly approximate the inferential role of causal concepts in a psychological theory of causal judgment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
W. Ahn C. Kalish D. Medin S. Gelman (1995) ArticleTitleThe Role of Covariation versus Mechanism Information in Causal Attribution Cognition 54 299–352 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0010-0277(94)00640-7
D. Armstrong (1997) A World of States of Affairs Cambridge University Press Cambridge
J. Aronson (1971) ArticleTitleThe Legacy of Hume’s Analysis of Causation Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 7 135–156 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0039-3681(71)90028-8
J. Bigelow R. Pargetter (1990) ArticleTitleMetaphysics of Causation Erkenntnis 33 89–119 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00634553
P. Cheng (1997) ArticleTitleFrom Covariation to Causation: A Causal Power Theory Psychological Review 104 367–405 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0033-295X.104.2.367
P. Cheng L. Novick (1990) ArticleTitleA Probabilistic Contrast Model of Causal Induction Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58 545–567 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0022-3514.58.4.545
K. Donnellan (1983) Kripke and Putnam on Natural Kind Terms C. Ginet (Eds) Knowledge and Mind: Philosophical Essays. Oxford University Press Oxford
P. Dowe (2000) Physical Causation Cambridge University Press Cambridge
D. Fair (1979) ArticleTitleCausation and the Flow of Energy Erkenntnis 14 219–250 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00174894
D. Gasking (1955) ArticleTitleCausation and Recipes Mind 64 479–487
A. Heathcote (1989) ArticleTitleA Theory of Causality: Causality=Interaction (as Defined by a Suitable Quantum Field Theory Erkenntnis 31 77–108 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF01239130
A. Heathcote D. Armstrong (1991) ArticleTitleCauses and Laws Nous 25 63–73
S. Kripke (1980) Naming and Necessity, Harvard University Press Cambridge MA
D. Lewis (1970) ArticleTitleHow to Define Theoretical Terms Journal of Philosophy 67 427–446 Occurrence Handle10.2307/2023861
D. Lewis (1972) ArticleTitlePsychophysical and Theoretical Identifications Australian Journal of Philosophy 50 249–258 Occurrence Handle10.1080/00048407212341301
D. Lewis (1980) A Subjectivist’s Guide to Objective Chance R. Jeffrey (Eds) Studies in Inductive Logic and Probability, Vol II University of California Press Berkeley, CA
D. Lewis (1994a) Reduction of Mind S. Guttenplan (Eds) A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind Blackwell Oxford
D. Lewis (1994b) ArticleTitleHumean Supervenience Debugged Mind 103 473–490
P. Menzies (1996) ArticleTitleProbabilistic Causality and the Pre-exemption Problem Mind 105 85–117 Occurrence Handle10.1093/mind/105.417.85
P. Menzies H. Price (1993) ArticleTitleCausation as a Secondary Quality British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 44 187–203
R. Millikan (1984) Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories MIT Press Cambridge, MA
R. Millikan (2000) On Clear and Confused Ideas Cambridge University Press Cambridge
H. Putnam (1975a) Mind, Language, and Reality: Philosophical Papers II Cambridge University Press Cambridge
Putnam H. 1975b, The Meaning of ‘Meaning’. In: Gunderson K., (ed), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol 8. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. Reprinted in Putnam 1975a, 215–271.
Putnam, H.: 1975c, Language and Reality, in Putnam 1975a, 272–290.
W. Quine (1951) ArticleTitleTwo Dogmas of Empiricism Philosophical Review 60 20–43 Occurrence Handle10.2307/2181906
Russell B.: 1912–13, On the Notion of Cause, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 13, 1–26.
J. Schaffer (2003) ArticleTitlePrincipled Chances British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 54 27–41 Occurrence Handle10.1093/bjps/54.1.27
E. Smith D. Medin (1981) Categories and Concepts Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA
D. Stampe (1977) Toward a Causal Theory of Linguistic Representation P. French T. Uehling H. Wettstein (Eds) Midwest Studies in Philosophy 2 University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis 42–63
G. Von Wright (1973) On the Logic and Epistemology of the Causal Relation P. Suppes (Eds) et al. Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science IV North-Holland Amsterdam
Wittgenstein L. (1953), Philosophical Investigation, G.E.M. Anscombe (trans). MacMillan, New York.
J. Woodward (2003) Making Things Happen Oxford University Press Oxford