Causality : philosophical theory meets scientific practice /

Causality is a hot topic in philosophy of science. Illari (lecturer, University College London) and Russo (researcher, Univ. of Ferrara, Italy) provide a much-needed travel guide through this landscape while sticking close to actual scientific practice from both the natural and social sciences. Five scientific problems--inference, prediction, explanation, control, and reasoning--frame a reciprocal conversation between scientific methodology and philosophical perspectives on causation (e.g., difference making, production, regularity, and capacities). All chapters are succinct, and most end with helpful box summaries of core ideas, distinctions and warnings, and further reading. The book is tailored to pedagogical contexts, both for scientists less familiar with philosophy and philosophers less familiar with science, and supplies a multitude of terminological clarifications and distinctions (e.g., validity, levels of causation, faithfulness, mechanisms, information). In addition to providing systematic coverage, the authors reflect on different ways to analyze causation (e.g., the role of toy examples versus detailed scientific examples) and argue that scholars should be methodologically pluralist, exploiting a wide range of questions and concepts in a causal mosaic to plumb the depths of causality in the sciences. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers/faculty, and professionals/practitioners. --Alan C. Love, University of Minnesota