defending a neo-humanistic theory of causation

By Neil McDonnell

What is it for one thing to cause another? The answer to this question will have an impact on questions of responsibility and agency, on questions of the interaction between the body and the mind and, most obviously, it will impact on causal theories of knowledge and perception. And yet, whilst an answer would have wide import, there is currently no philosophical consensus as to what that answer might be. One might think that we demonstrate a mastery of the causal concept in our ability to manipulate the world around us. After all, if we didn't know what caused what, then we wouldn't be able to drive a car, operate a television or take a photograph. Plainly we already understand many cases of cause and effect However the question is not 'what are the causes?' but rather 'what is it about the causes that make them causes?' and this is a notion we are yet to master. The recent literature in the philosophy of causation has produced a wide variety of views which in turn have produced a plethora of problematic cases that appear to refute them. Reading this literature, one can detect a growing pessimism about the prospects of our ever being able to give a really informative and satisfying account of causation, one that conforms to our ordinary understanding and identifies some unifying feature that all cases of causation have in common. In particular there is great pessimism about our being able to give an account which captures the idea that causation is a natural rather than mind-dependent feature of the world around us

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1835202527
• ISBN13: 9781835202524
• Release Date: June 2023
• Publisher: Remod
• Length: 174 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"