Causality : philosophical theory meets scientific practice /
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| Author / Creator: | Illari, Phyllis McKay, author. |
|---|---|
| Edition: | First edition. |
| Imprint: | Oxford : University Press, 2014. ©20 |
| Description: | 1 online resource |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | |
| Format: | E-Resource Book |
| URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11754551 |
Table of Contents:
- Cover; Contents; Part I Prelude to Causality; 1 Problems of Causality in the Sciences; 1.1 Why this book on causality?; 1.2 Five scientific problems; 1.3 The contents of this book; 2 A Scientific Toolbox for Philosophy; 2.1 Methods for finding causes; 2.2 Observational methods; 2.3 Experimental methods; 2.4 Between observation and experiment; 2.5 Beyond observation and experiment; 2.6 How to make a study work; 3 A Philosophical Toolbox for Science; 3.1 Arguments; 3.2 Methods; 3.3 Levels of abstraction; Part II Causality: Accounts, Concepts and Methods.
- 4 Necessary and Sufficient Components4.1 Examples: electrical short-circuit and AIDS; 4.2 Component causes; 4.3 INUS causes and related concepts; 4.4 Rothman''s pie charts; 5 Levels of Causation; 5.1 Examples: personalized medicine and migration behaviours; 5.2 Three parallel literatures; 5.3 Bridging the levels-and the terminology!; 6 Causality and Evidence; 6.1 Examples: effects of radiation and smoking causing heart disease; 6.2 What do we want to know?; 6.3 Evidence for causal relations; 6.4 Evidence-based approaches; 7 Causal Methods: Probing the Data.
- 7.1 Examples: apoptosis and self-rated health7.2 The need for causal methods; 7.3 The most widespread causal methods; 7.4 Key notions in causal methods; 8 Difference-making: Probabilistic Causality; 8.1 Example: smoking and lung cancer; 8.2 Is causality probability-altering?; 8.3 Beyond probabilistic causes; 9 Difference-making: Counterfactuals; 9.1 Example: mesothelioma and safety at work; 9.2 The unbearable imprecision of counterfactual reasoning; 9.3 Philosophical views of counterfactuals; 9.4 Counterfactuals in other fields; 10 Difference -making: Manipulation and Invariance.
- 10.1 Example: gene knock-out experiments10.2 The manipulationists: wiggle the cause, and the effect wiggles too; 10.3 What causes can''t we wiggle?; 11 Production Accounts: Processes; 11.1 Examples: billiard balls colliding and aeroplanes crossing; 11.2 Tracing processes; 11.3 How widely does the approach apply?; 12 Production Accounts: Mechanisms; 12.1 Example: how can smoking cause heart disease?; 12.2 What is a mechanism? The major mechanists; 12.3 Important features of mechanisms and mechanistic explanation; 12.4 What is not a mechanism?; 13 Production Accounts: Information.
- 13.1 Examples: tracing transmission of waves and of disease13.2 The path to informational accounts; 13.3 Integrating the informational and mechanistic approaches; 13.4 Future prospects for an informational account of causality; 14 Capacities, Powers, Dispositions; 14.1 Examples: systems in physics and biology; 14.2 The core idea of capacities, powers and dispositions; 14.3 Capacities in science: explanation and evidence; 15 Regularity ; 15.1 Examples: natural and social regularities; 15.2 Causality as regular patterns; 15.3 Updating regularity for current science; 16 Variation.