Physical Causation
Physical Causation discusses in a systematic way an original, positive account of causation: the conserved quantities account of causal processes that Phil Dowe has been developing over the past ten years. Dowe offers a clear and original account of causation based firmly in contemporary science. This is an important, original book that will be widely discussed among philosophers and students working in contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of science, and also scientists with an interest in foundational issues.
- Clear account of causation based on the 'conserved quantity theory'
- Strong and growing interest in the field of causality
Reviews & endorsements
"...I can recommend this book to anyone interested in contemporary debate about causation." Robert C. Koons, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
"Dowe's revisions to Salmon's process theory have made for an elegant account of what actual, physical, singular causation is." Charles Twardy, Philosophy of Science
Product details
August 2007Paperback
9780521039758
236 pages
228 × 152 × 13 mm
0.359kg
18 b/w illus. 1 table
Available
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1. Horses for courses: causation and the task of philosophy
- 2. Hume's legacy: regularity, counterfactual and probabilistic theories of causation
- 3. Transference theories of causation
- 4. Process theories of causation
- 5. The conserved quantity theory
- 6. Prevention and omission
- 7. Connecting causes and effects
- 8. The direction of causation and backwards-in-time causation
- References
- Index.
