Causation in Early Modern Philosophy

Causation in Early Modern Philosophy PDF Author: Steven M. Nadler
Publisher: Penn State University Press
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Three general accounts of causation stand out in early modern philosophy: Cartesian interactionism, occasionalism, and Leibniz's preestablished harmony. The contributors to this volume examine these theories in their philosophical and historical context. They address them both as a means for answering specific questions regarding causal relations and in their relation to one another, in particular, comparing occasionalism and the preestablished harmony as responses to Descartes's metaphysics and physics and the Cartesian account of causation. Philosophers discussed include Descartes, Gassendi, Malebranche, Arnauld, Leibniz, Bayle, La Forge, and other, less well-known figures.

Causation in Early Modern Philosophy

Causation in Early Modern Philosophy PDF Author: Steven M. Nadler
Publisher: Penn State University Press
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description
Three general accounts of causation stand out in early modern philosophy: Cartesian interactionism, occasionalism, and Leibniz's preestablished harmony. The contributors to this volume examine these theories in their philosophical and historical context. They address them both as a means for answering specific questions regarding causal relations and in their relation to one another, in particular, comparing occasionalism and the preestablished harmony as responses to Descartes's metaphysics and physics and the Cartesian account of causation. Philosophers discussed include Descartes, Gassendi, Malebranche, Arnauld, Leibniz, Bayle, La Forge, and other, less well-known figures.

The Causation Debate in Modern Philosophy, 1637-1739

The Causation Debate in Modern Philosophy, 1637-1739 PDF Author: Kenneth Clatterbaugh
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317828100
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
The Causation Debate in Modern Philosophy examines the debate that began as modern science separated itself from natural philosophy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The book specifically explores the two dominant approaches to causation as a metaphysical problem and as a scientific problem.

Causality and Mind

Causality and Mind PDF Author: Nicholas Jolley
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199669554
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
This text presents 17 of Nicholas Jolley's essays on early modern philosophy. They focus on two main themes: the debate over the nature of causality; and the issues posed by Descartes' innovations in the philosophy of mind. Together, they show that philosophers in the period are systematic critics of their contemporaries and predecessors.

The Minds of the Moderns

The Minds of the Moderns PDF Author: Janice Thomas
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317492412
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
This is a comprehensive examination of the ideas of the early modern philosophers on the nature of mind. Taking Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume in turn, Janice Thomas presents an authoritative and critical assessment of each of these canonical thinkers' views of the notion of mind. The book examines each philosopher's position on five key topics: the metaphysical character of minds and mental states; the nature and scope of introspection and self-knowledge; the nature of consciousness; the problem of mental causation and the nature of representation and intentionality. The exposition and examination of their positions is informed by present-day debates in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of psychology so that students get a clear sense of the importance of these philosophers' ideas, many of which continue to define our current notions of the mental.Again and again, philosophers and students alike come back to the great early modern rationalist and empiricist philosophers for instruction and inspiration. Their views on the philosophy of mind are no exception and as Janice Thomas shows they have much to offer contemporary debates. The book is suitable for undergraduate courses in the philosophy of mind and the many new courses in philosophy of psychology.

Contemporary Perspectives on Early Modern Philosophy

Contemporary Perspectives on Early Modern Philosophy PDF Author: Paul Hoffman
Publisher: Broadview Press
ISBN: 1551116626
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
Contemporary Perspectives on Early Modern Philosophy is a collection of essays dedicated to Vere Chappell, one of the most respected scholars in the field of early modern philosophy. Seventeen distinguished scholars have contributed essays to this collection on topics including dualism, identity and essence, causation, theodicy, free will, perception, abstraction, and the moral law.

Causation

Causation PDF Author: Douglas Kutach
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745685846
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
In most academic and non-academic circles throughout history, the world and its operation have been viewed in terms of cause and effect. The principles of causation have been applied, fruitfully, across the sciences, law, medicine, and in everyday life, despite the lack of any agreed-upon framework for understanding what causation ultimately amounts to. In this engaging and accessible introduction to the topic, Douglas Kutach explains and analyses the most prominent theories and examples in the philosophy of causation. The book is organized so as to respect the various cross-cutting and interdisciplinary concerns about causation, such as the reducibility of causation, its application to scientific modeling, its connection to influence and laws of nature, and its role in causal explanation. Kutach begins by presenting the four recurring distinctions in the literature on causation, proceeding through an exploration of various accounts of causation including determination, difference making and probability-raising. He concludes by carefully considering their application to the mind-body problem. Causation provides a straightforward and compact survey of contemporary approaches to causation and serves as a friendly and clear guide for anyone interested in exploring the complex jungle of ideas that surround this fundamental philosophical topic.

Occasionalism

Occasionalism PDF Author: Steven Nadler
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0198250088
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Steven Nadler presents a collection of essays on philosophical problems about causation in the seventeenth century. His focus is on a particular doctrine, "occasionalism", found among a number of early modern followers of Descartes. The essays consider the philosophical, scientific, theological, and historical context for the doctrine.

Pierre Bayle's Cartesian Metaphysics

Pierre Bayle's Cartesian Metaphysics PDF Author: Todd Ryan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135987998
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
In his magnum opus, the Historical and Critical Dictionary, Pierre Bayle offered a series of brilliant criticisms of the major philosophical and theological systems of the 17th Century. Although officially skeptical concerning the attempt to provide a definitive account of the truths of metaphysics, there is reason to see Bayle as a reluctant skeptic. In particular, Todd Ryan contends that Bayle harbored deep sympathy for the attempt by Descartes and his most innovative successor, Nicolas Malebranche, to establish a metaphysical system that would provide a foundation for the new mechanistic natural philosophy while helping to secure the fundamental tenets of rational theology. Through a careful analysis of Bayle’s critical engagement with such philosophers as Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke and Newton, it is argued that, despite his reputation as a skeptic, Bayle was not without philosophical commitments of his own. Drawing on the full range of Bayle’s writings, from his early philosophical lectures to his final controversial writings, Ryan offers detailed studies of Bayle’s treatment of such pivotal issues as mind-body dualism, causation and God’s relation to the world.

Efficient Causation

Efficient Causation PDF Author: Tad M. Schmaltz
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199782172
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
This volume is a collection of new essays by specialists that trace the concept of efficient causation from its discovery (or invention) in Ancient Greece, through its development in late antiquity, the medieval period, and modern philosophy, to its use in contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of science.

Mental Causation and Ontology

Mental Causation and Ontology PDF Author: S. C. Gibb
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199603774
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
This book demonstrates the importance of ontology for a central debate in philosophy of mind. Mental causation seems an obvious aspect of the world. But it is hard to understand how it can happen unless we get clear about what the entities involved in the process are. An international team of contributors presents new work on this problem.