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Frequency-Dependent Causation: A Defense of Giere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

John Collier
John Collier*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Calgary
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Abstract

Ronald Giere's analysis of causal effectiveness in populations involves the comparison of two hypothetical populations, one in which every individual has the suspected causal factor, and the other in which none do. Elliott Sober has argued that in cases where causal effectiveness depends on relative population sizes, Giere's analysis breaks down. I take issue with this claim, and argue to the contrary that Giere's analysis can help provide insight into these cases.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , December 1983 , pp. 618 - 625
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1983

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Footnotes

†

I am grateful to Elliott Sober, Ronald Giere, and Tom Hurka for comments and criticisms on an earlier version of this paper.

References

Giere, Ronald (1979), Understanding Scientific Reasoning. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Sober, Elliott (1982), “Frequency Dependent Causation”, The Journal of Philosophy LXXIX: 247–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar