Being reduced: new essays on reduction, explanation, and causation

323 Pages·2012·1.505 MB·English

by  Hohwy, Jakob;Kallestrup, Jesper

BEING REDUCED
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Being Reduced
New Essays on Reduction, Explanation,
and Causation
Editedby
JAKOB HOHWY
JESPER KALLESTRUP
1
1
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PeterLipton
inmemoriam
Preface
To our minds, there are few more unsettling philosophical questions than this:
‘‘what happens in attempts to reduce some properties to some other more
fundamentalproperties?’’Reflectiononthisquestioninevitablytouchesonvery
deepissuesaboutourselves,ourowninteractionswiththeworldandeachother,
andourveryunderstandingofwhatthereisandwhatgoesonaroundus.Ifwe
cannotcommandaclearviewofthesedeepissues,thenverymanyotherdebates
in contemporaryphilosophy seem to lose traction—thinkof causation, laws of
nature,explanation,consciousness,personalidentity,intentionality,normativity,
freedom,responsibility,justice,andsoon.Reductioncaneasilyseemtounravel
ourworld.
Weasked an eminentgroupofphilosopherstohelpus answer thisquestion,
and we are immensely grateful to them all for taking up the challenge—real
progressismadeonourquestion.
WewishtothanktheDanishResearchCouncilfortheHumanitiesforfunding
fortheresearchprojectNaturalisedMinds—CognisantNature (knownbetteras
NAMICONA). This project was spearheaded by Lars Bo Gundersen whose
vision for a research network on this topic proved crucial for the development
andnurturingofaninspiringresearchmilieu.WeareverygratefultoLarsBofor
makingthispossible.ThanksarealsoduetoJonasChristensenandLenaFrikke
who assisted us all through the project; and we are grateful to Raphael Fiorese
for compiling the index. Finally we should like to thank everybody at Oxford
UniversityPressfortheirsupportthroughout.
Contents
ListofContributors ix
Introduction 1
1. ReductionandEmbodiedCognition:PerspectivesfromMedicine
andPsychiatry 20
ValerieGrayHardcastleandRosalynW.Stewart
2. RealReductioninRealNeuroscience:Metascience,NotPhilosophy
ofScience(andCertainlyNotMetaphysics!) 34
JohnBickle
3. ReductioninRealLife 52
PeterGodfrey-Smith
4. GroupAgencyandSupervenience 75
ChristianListandPhilipPettit
5. ReductionandReductiveExplanation:IsOnePossibleWithoutthe
Other? 93
JaegwonKim
6. CPLaws,Reduction,andExplanatoryPluralism 115
PeterLipton
7. MustaPhysicalistbeaMicrophysicalist? 126
DavidPapineau
8. WhyThereIsAnythingExceptPhysics 149
BarryLoewer
9. MultipleRealization:KeepingItReal 164
LouiseM.Antony
10. CausationandDeterminableProperties:OntheEfficacyofColour,
Shape,andSize 176
TimCrane
11. TheExclusionProblem,theDeterminationRelation,and
ContrastiveCausation 196
PeterMenzies
12. MentalCausationandNeuralMechanisms 218
JamesWoodward
viii Contents
13. DistinctionsinDistinction 263
DanielStoljar
14. ExclusionAgain 280
KarenBennett
Index 307
List of Contributors
LouiseAntonyisProfessorof PhilosophyattheUniversityof MassachusettsAmherst
KarenBennettisAssociateProfessorof PhilosophyatCornellUniversity
JohnBickleisProfessorof PhilosophyattheUniversityof Cincinnati
TimCraneisProfessorof PhilosophyatUniversityCollegeLondon
ValerieGrayHardcastleisProfessorof PhilosophyatUniversityof Cincinnati
Jaegwon Kim is the William Herbert Perry Faunce Professor of Philosophy at Brown
University
PeterLiptonwastheHansRausingProfessoroftheHistoryandPhilosophyof Science
atCambridgeUniversity
ChristianListisProfessorof PoliticalScienceandPhilosophyattheLondonSchoolof
Economics
BarryLoewerisProfessorof PhilosophyatRutgersUniversity
PeterMenziesisProfessorof PhilosophyatMacquarieUniversity
DavidPapineauisProfessorof Philosophyof ScienceatKing’sCollegeLondon
PhilipPettitistheLauranceS.RockefellerUniversityProfessorof PoliticsandHuman
ValuesatPrincetonUniversity
PeterGodfrey-SmithisProfessorof PhilosophyatHarvardUniversity
RosalynStewartisAssistantProfessorof MedicineatJohnsHopkinsUniversity
DanielStoljarisProfessorof PhilosophyattheAustralianNationalUniversity
JamesWoodwardistheJ.O.andJulietteKoepfliProfessorofHumanitiesattheCalifornia
Instituteof Technology