Causality and Explanation
Published on 7. May 1998
Book
Paperback/Softback
448 pages
978-0-19-510864-4 (ISBN)
Description
Wesley Salmon is renowned for his scholarly contributions to the philosophy of science. This unique volume brings together twenty-six of his essays on subjects related to causality and explanation, written over the period 1971-1995. Six of the essays have never been published before and many others have only appeared in obscure venues. It includes a section of introductory pieces, as well as more advanced and technical pieces.
Reviews / Votes
This is a valuable book, a most welcome addition to the literature on one of the key problems of philosophy of science, written by one of its most outstanding representatives. * Maria Carla Galavotti, John Von Neumann * The Foundations of Quantum Physics. *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
line drawings
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
682 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-510864-4 (9780195108644)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Content
Introduction
Introductory Essays
1: A New Look at Causality
2: Determinism and Indeterminism in Modern Science
3: Comets, Pollen, and Dreams: Some Reflections on Scientific Explanation
4: Scientific Explanation: Causation and Unification
5: The Importance of Scientific Understanding
Scientific Explanation
6: A Third Dogma of Empiricism
7: Causal and Theoretical Explanation
8: Why Ask "Why?"? An Inquiry Concerning Scientific Explanation
9: Deductivism Visited and Revisited
10: Explanatory Asymmetry
11: Van Frassen On Explanation
Causality
12: An "At-At" Theory of Causal Influence
13: Causal Propensities: Statistical Causality vs Aleatory Causality
14: Probabilistic Causality
15: Intuitions: Good and Not-So-Good
16: Causality without Counterfactuals
17: Indeterminacy, Indeterminism, and Quantum Mechanics
Concise Overviews
18: Causality: Production and Propagation
19: Scientific Explanation: How We Got From There to Here
20: Scientific Explanation: Three Basic Conceptions
Applications to Other Disciplines
21: Alternative Models of Scientific Explanation
22: Causality in Archaeological Explanation
23: Explanation in Archaeology: An Update
24: Formation of Why-Questions
25: Quasars, Causality and Geometry
26: Dreams of a Famous Physicist: An Apology for Philosophy of Science
References
Index
Introductory Essays
1: A New Look at Causality
2: Determinism and Indeterminism in Modern Science
3: Comets, Pollen, and Dreams: Some Reflections on Scientific Explanation
4: Scientific Explanation: Causation and Unification
5: The Importance of Scientific Understanding
Scientific Explanation
6: A Third Dogma of Empiricism
7: Causal and Theoretical Explanation
8: Why Ask "Why?"? An Inquiry Concerning Scientific Explanation
9: Deductivism Visited and Revisited
10: Explanatory Asymmetry
11: Van Frassen On Explanation
Causality
12: An "At-At" Theory of Causal Influence
13: Causal Propensities: Statistical Causality vs Aleatory Causality
14: Probabilistic Causality
15: Intuitions: Good and Not-So-Good
16: Causality without Counterfactuals
17: Indeterminacy, Indeterminism, and Quantum Mechanics
Concise Overviews
18: Causality: Production and Propagation
19: Scientific Explanation: How We Got From There to Here
20: Scientific Explanation: Three Basic Conceptions
Applications to Other Disciplines
21: Alternative Models of Scientific Explanation
22: Causality in Archaeological Explanation
23: Explanation in Archaeology: An Update
24: Formation of Why-Questions
25: Quasars, Causality and Geometry
26: Dreams of a Famous Physicist: An Apology for Philosophy of Science
References
Index