Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:46:43.641Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Reality of Causes in a World of Instrumental Laws

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2022

Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright*
Affiliation:
Stanford University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Empiricists are notoriously suspicious of causes. They have not been equally wary of laws. Hume set the tradition when he replaced causal facts with facts about generalizations. Modern empiricists do the same. But nowadays Hume's generalizations are the laws and equations of high level scientific theories. On current accounts, there may be some question about where the laws of our fundamental theories get their necessity, but it is no question that these laws are the core of modern science. Bertrand Russell is well known for this view: “The law of gravitation will illustrate what occurs in any exact science … . Certain differential equations can be found, which hold at every instant for every particle of the system … . But there is nothing that could be properly called “cause” and nothing that could be properly called “effect” in such a system.”

Type
Part I. Probability and Causality
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1980 , Issue 2: Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers 1980 , 1980 , pp. 38 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agarwal, G.S. (1974). Quantum-Statistical Theories of Spontaneous Emission and their Relation to Other Approaches. Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bromberger, Sylvain. (1965). “An Approach to Explanation.” In Analytical Philosophy. 2nd Ser. Edited by Butler, R.J. . Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Pages 72-105.Google Scholar
Cartwright, Nancy. (1980). “Do the Laws of Physics State the Facts?” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 61: 75-84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartwright, Nancy. (unpublished). “When Can We Infer The Best Explanation?” Paper read at the 1980 Western Washington Annual Philosophy Conference.Google Scholar
Duhem, Pierre. (1906). La théorie physique: son objet et sa structure. Paris: Chevalier & Riviere (As translated by Wiener, P. as The Aim and Structure of Scientific Theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975.)Google Scholar
Ennis, Robert H. (1968). “Enumerative Induction and Best Explanation.” Journal of Philosophy 65: 523-529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldman, M. (1978). “The Radiometer Revisited.” Physics Education 13: 427-429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haken, H. (1970). “The Semiclassical and Quantum Theory of the Laser.” In Quantum Optics. Edited by Kay, S.M. and Maitland, A. London: Academic Press. Pages 201-321.Google Scholar
Harman, G. (1965). “The Inference to the Best Explanation.” Philosophical Review LXXIV: 88-95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Louisell, William H. (1973). Quantum Statistical Properties of Radiation. New York: Wiley Intersoience.Google Scholar
Perrin, Jean. (1913). Les Atomes. Paris: Alcan. (As translated by Hammick, D. as Atoms. (1916). London: Constable.)Google Scholar
Putnam, H. (1978). Meaning and the Moral Sciences. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Russell, Bertrand. (1913). “On the Notion of Cause.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. New Series Vol 13: 1-26. (As Reprinted in Mysticism and Logic. London: Allen and Unwin, 1917. Pages 180-208.)Google Scholar
Salmon, Wesley. (unpublished). “Realism and Scientific Explanation.” Paper read at University of Southern California 1980.Google Scholar
Salmon, Wesley. (1981). “Causality: Production and Propagation.” In PSA 1980. Volume 2. Edited by Asquith, P.D. and Giere, R.N.. East Lansing: Philosophy of Science Association. Pages 49-69.Google Scholar
Soriven, Michael. (1962). “Explanations, Predictions, and Laws.” In Scientific Explanation, Space, and Time. (Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Vol. III). Edited by Feigl, Herbert and Maxwell, Grover. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Pages 170-230.Google Scholar
Thom, Rene. (1972). Stabilite Structurelle et Morphogénèse. Reading, Mass.: Benjamin. (As translated by Fowler, D.H. as Structural Stability and Morphogenesis. Reading, Mass.: Benjamin, 1975.)Google Scholar