Theories of Causality: From Antiquity to the Present

219 Pages·2011·2.07 MB·English

by  John Losee

Copyright © 2011 by Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New
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terials.
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2011010279
ISBN: 978-1-4128-1832-2
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Losee, John.
Theories of causality : from antiquity to the present / John Losee.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-4128-1832-2 1. Causation. I. Title.
BD531.L67 2011
122—dc22
2011010279
Contents
Introduction vii
I Classical Sources: Theories of Causality Prior to 1900
1. Aristotle on the Four Aspects of Causation 3
2. Medieval Science and the Discovery of Causes 7
3. Francis Bacon on the Exclusion of Final Causes 11
4. The Revival of Atomism 15
5. Causes, Impacts, and Action-at-a-Distance 19
6. David Hume on Causality 29
7. Kant’s Response to Hume’s Regularity View 37
8. J. S. Mill on Invariable and Unconditional Correlations 41
9. Options for a Theory of Causality ca. 1900 49
II Early Twentieth-Century Theories: Dominance of
the Regularity View
10. C. S. Peirce on Causation and Causality 53
11. Karl Pearson’s Version of the Regularity View 57
12. Bertrand Russell and N. R. Campbell on Causal
Relations in Science 59
13. Causality in Physics: Revision of the Regularity View 63
Theories of Causality
III Quantum Mechanics and
the Regularity-between-States View
14. The Interpretation of Quantum Phenomena 69
15. Causality and the Three Levels of Language in
Quantum Mechanics 77
16. Philipp Frank on Causality and Inferability 85
IV Protests against the Identification of
Causality and Regularity
17. Ducasse and the Singularity Definition 91
18. Cause as Sufficient Condition 95
19. Probabilistic Causality 105
20. Wesley Salmon on Processes and Interactions 113
21. Phil Dowe and the Conserved Quantity Theory 121
22. Causality and the Transfer of Energy or Momentum 129
23. Causality and Powers 135
24. Manipulability and Causality 143
25. David Lewis and the Counterfactual Conditional View 153
26. Criteria of Causal Status 169
27. Multiple Concepts of Causality 177
28. Conflicting Criteria of Causal Status 185
Conclusion 197
Index of Subjects 205
Index of Names 209
vi
Introduction
1. What types of entities qualify as “causes” and “effects”?
2. What is the relationship between cause and effect?
3. How are causal claims to be assessed?
This volume is a selective history of answers that have been given
to the above three questions, augmented by occasional evaluative
comments by the author. The first question is about the structure of
the world. Answers given to this question assert that things in the
world stand thus and so, and not otherwise. To ascribe “causation” to
states of affairs is to make an ontological claim. For instance, one may
claim that event e causes event e in a specific case or that all events
1 2
of type c cause events of type e.
The second question is about theories that interpret causal related-
ness. Some theories of causality take the relationship to be logical: c
is a necessary condition of e, or c is a sufficient condition of e, or c is
an INUS condition of e (c is an insufficient but necessary member of a
set of conditions, which set is unnecessary but sufficient for e). Other
theories take the relationship to be empirical: c and e are members of
classes of events that display constant sequential conjunction, there is
energy or momentum transfer between c and e, or there is exchange
of a conserved quantity from c to e.
The third question is about proper procedure in science and ev-
eryday life. The usual procedure is to demonstrate that the claim in
question satisfies the requirements of one or more theory of causality.
In addition, one may support a claim by showing that it is consistent
with established scientific laws and that it is superior to other possible
claimants to causal status.
I have sought to present theories of causality within a historical
survey that emphasizes the interrelationship between these theories
and developments in science. I hope that my analysis displays the
strengths and the weaknesses of these theories in such a way as to
contribute to our present understanding of causal relatedness.
vii
Theories of Causality
Some disclaimers are in order. The subject matter of this study is
physical causation, and the history of theories advanced to interpret
it. Psychical states may cause, and be caused by, external events.
However, mental causation is not a principal focus here.
I have relied on present ideas about causal relatedness in the se-
lection of subject matter for this volume. This reliance leads to some
exclusions, despite the fact that the excluded theories were regarded
as important at one time. In particular, I have little to say about ap-
peals to God as cause of events, miraculous or otherwise. And I ignore
the once influential preoccupations with causation by astral forces or
alchemical forces.
viii
I
Classical Sources:
Theories of Causality
Prior to 1900