Reasons and Causes

Reasons and Causes PDF Author: A. Laitinen
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9780230580640
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Are the reasons for which we act the causes of our actions? In the nine essays collected here (including a major historical overview by the editors), experts in the field re-evaluate the history and current state of the reasons/causes debate.

Reasons and Causes

Reasons and Causes PDF Author: A. Laitinen
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9780230580640
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Are the reasons for which we act the causes of our actions? In the nine essays collected here (including a major historical overview by the editors), experts in the field re-evaluate the history and current state of the reasons/causes debate.

Explaining Behavior

Explaining Behavior PDF Author: Fred Dretske
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262540612
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Why do human beings move? In this lucid portrayal of human behavior, Fred Dretske provides an original account of the way reasons function in the causal explanation of behavior. Biological science investigates what makes our bodies move in the way they do. Psychology is interested in why persons—agents with reasons—move in the way they do. Dretske attempts to reconcile these different points of view by showing how reasons operate in a world of causes. He reveals in detail how the character of our inner states—what we believe, desire, and intend—determines what we do.

The Cambridge Companion to Merleau-Ponty

The Cambridge Companion to Merleau-Ponty PDF Author: Taylor Carman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521007771
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Persons and Causes

Persons and Causes PDF Author: Timothy O'Connor
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198030509
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
This provocative book refurbishes the traditional account of freedom of will as reasons-guided "agent" causation, situating its account within a general metaphysics. O'Connor's discussion of the general concept of causation and of ontological reductionism v. emergence will specially interest metaphysicians and philosophers of mind.

Causes, Laws, and Free Will

Causes, Laws, and Free Will PDF Author: Kadri Vihvelin
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199795185
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
This book rescues compatibilists from the familiar charge of 'quagmire of evasion' by arguing that the problem of free will and determinism is a metaphysical problem with a metaphysical solution. There is no good reason to think that determinism would rob us of the free will we think we have.

Formal Causes

Formal Causes PDF Author: Michael T. Ferejohn
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019969530X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Michael T. Ferejohn presents a new analysis of Aristotle's theory of explanation and scientific knowledge, in the context of its Socratic roots. Ferejohn shows how Aristotle resolves the tension between his commitment to the formal-case model of explanation and his recognition of the role of efficient causes in explaining natural phenomena.

How We Act

How We Act PDF Author: Berent En C
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 9780199204182
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
'How We Act' presents a compelling picture of human action as part of the natural causal order. Berent Enç eschews any appeal to special capacities supposedly unique to rational agents, such as agent causation or irreducible acts of volition, and by appealing to analogous positions in epistemology and the theory of perception, shows why it is a mistake to subscribe to such capacities. His defense begins with a foundationalist definition of action that rests on a theory of basic acts, conceived here as derived from empirical studies of animal behaviour. Basic acts are complex units that agents acquire as part of their repertoire of things they can readily do - things with which practical syllogisms end.

A Variety of Causes

A Variety of Causes PDF Author: Paul Noordhof
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192602853
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 591

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Book Description
This is the first book length defence of a counterfactual theory of causation. The analysis defended is new. It expresses the idea that, independent of its competitors, a cause raises the chance of an effect over its mean background chance by a complete causal chain. The analysis depends upon a novel development of David Lewis's Theory of Counterfactuals. One consequence of the analysis is that causation is not transitive. Causation is also nonsymmetric. The counterfactual basis of causal nonsymmetry is the result of a number of different, and sometimes interacting, nonsymmetries. The analysis allows for the development of a novel theory of events whose nature is independent of their role in causation and the identification of one other important causal relationship: property causation. Although compatible with Hume's denial of necessary connections between distinct existences, a key feature of the theory is that it benefits from being independent of the Humean framework. There are two ways in which something may be metaphysically fundamental: vertically and horizontally. Many metaphysicians emphasise vertical fundamentality and focus on truth making. The book rejects this emphasis and the truth making approach in particular. Horizontally fundamental metaphysical entities are those that are necessary components in different possible universes. Causation has a claim to be horizontally fundamental: the cement of any universe. Laws are patterns of causation realised in different metaphysical frameworks such as those articulated by Lewis, Armstrong and the powers ontologists. The book recognises varieties of causation both in, for example, counting cases of double prevention and causation by genuine processes as types of causation, and allowing that the analysis identifies causes across these different metaphysical frameworks.

Epidemiology: A Very Short Introduction

Epidemiology: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Rodolfo Saracci
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191609242
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
What is epidemiology? What are the causes of a new disease? How can pandemics be prevented? Epidemiology is the study of the changing patterns of disease and its main aim is to improve the health of populations. It's a vital field, central to the health of society, to the identification of causes of disease, and to their management and prevention. Epidemiology has had an impact on many areas of medicine; from discovering the relationship between tobacco smoking and lung cancer, to the origin and spread of new epidemics. However, it is often poorly understood, largely due to misrepresentations in the media. In this Very Short Introduction Rodolfo Saracci dispels some of the myths surrounding the study of epidemiology. He provides a general explanation of the principles behind clinical trials, and explains the nature of basic statistics concerning disease. He also looks at the ethical and political issues related to obtaining and using information concerning patients, and trials involving placebos. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Causal Theories of Mind

Causal Theories of Mind PDF Author: Steven Davis
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 311084382X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description