The Manipulability Account of Causation Applied to Typical Physical Systems
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.20416/lsrsps.v1i1.43Mots-clés :
cause, causation, manipulability, modularity, physical system, couplingRésumé
In the following we will apply the manipulability theory of causation of Woodward (2004) to physical systems, and show that, in the context of physical systems, the theory can be simplified. Elaborating on an argument by Cartwright, we will argue that the notions of ‘modularity’ and ‘intervention’ of the cited work should be adapted for typical physical systems, in order to take into account the coupling of system equations. We will show that this allows the reduction of all cause types discussed in Woodward (2004) to only one, namely that of ‘total cause’. We therefore claim that the manipulability account can be drastically simplified when applied to coupled physical systems
Références
CARTWRIGHT, Nancy. 2002. Against Modularity, the Causal Markov Condition and any Link between the Two. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 53, 411 - 453.
CARTWRIGHT, Nancy. 2004. Causation: One Word, Many Things. Philosophy of Science 71, 805 - 819.
CARTWRIGHT, Nancy. 2006. From Metaphysics to Method: Comments on Manipulability and the Causal Markov Condition.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 57, 197 - 218.
GIORDANO, Frank, WEIR, Maurice. 1988. Differential Equations. A Modeling Approach. Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
HAUSMAN, Daniel, WOODWARD, James. 2004. Modularity and the Causal Markov Condition: A Restatement. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 55, 147 – 161.
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SUPPES, Patrick. 1970. A Probabilistic Theory of Causality. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.
WOODWARD, James. 2004. Making Things Happen. A Theory of Causal Explanation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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