Overview
Causation is everywhere in the world: it features in every science and technology. But how much do we truly understand it? Do we know what it means to say that one thing is a cause of another and do we understand what in the world drives causation? Getting Causes from Powers develops a new and original theory of causation based on an ontology of real powers or dispositions. Others have already suggested that this ought to be possible, but no one has yet performed the detailed work. Stephen Mumford and Rani Lill Anjum argue here that the completed theory will not look exactly as anyone has yet anticipated, and that a thoroughly dispositional theory of causation has some surprising features, for instance with respect to modality. The book is not restricted to the metaphysics of causation, but treats a variety of topics such as explanation, perception, modelling, the logic of causal claims, transitivity, and nonlinearity, and the empirical credentials of the theory are tested with reference to biology.
Full Product Details
Author: Stephen Mumford (University of Nottingham) ,
Rani Lill Anjum (Norwegian University of Life Sciences)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 13.90cm
, Height: 1.70cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.334kg
ISBN: 9780198709626
ISBN 10: 0198709625
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 04 December 2014
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
brimming with innovation and insight Troy Cross, Dialectica Anyone who believes in dispositions, or is interested in their connection to causation, should find herself well disposed to read this ambitious and provocative book, and to manifest a great deal of insight thereby. Anjan Chakravartty, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
...their book is still the kind of book I would like to have written, and certainly a book I would urge everyone who cares to read. Boris Hennig, Philosophical Quarterly brimming with innovation and insight Troy Cross, Dialectica Anyone who believes in dispositions, or is interested in their connection to causation, should find herself well disposed to read this ambitious and provocative book, and to manifest a great deal of insight thereby. Anjan Chakravartty, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
bold and innovative Jennifer McKitrick, Analysis
Author Information
Stephen Mumford is Professor of Metaphysics and Head of the School of Humanities at the University of Nottingham. He gained his PhD from Leeds in 1994 and then wroteDispositions (OUP 1998), Laws in Nature (Routledge 2004), and David Armstrong (Acumen 2007), as well as editing Russell on Metaphysics (Routledge 2003) and George Molnar's Powers (OUP 2003). He was co-investigator in the AHRC-funded project Metaphysics of Science and has been Chair of the British Philosophy of Sport Association. He is currently writing a book on sport: Watching Sport: Aesthetics, Ethics and Emotions. Rani Lill Anjum is an Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. She received her doctorate from the University of Tromsø, funded by the FRIHUM program at the Norwegian Research Council (NFR). Anjum has recently finished a three-year postdoctoral project at Tromsø and Nottingham on causation and dispositions (also funded by FRIHUM).
