Causation and Laws of Nature in Early Modern Philosophy

by Walter Ott

Overview

Some philosophers think physical explanations stand on their own: what happens, happens because things have the properties they do. Others think that any such explanation is incomplete: what happens in the physical world must be partly due to the laws of nature. Causation and Laws of Nature in Early Modern Philosophy examines the debate between these views from Descartes to Hume.
Ott argues that the competing models of causation in the period grow out of the scholastic notion of power. On this Aristotelian view, the connection between cause and effect is logically necessary. Causes are 'intrinsically directed' at what they produce. But when the Aristotelian view is faced with the challenge of mechanism, the core notion of a power splits into two distinct models, each of which persists throughout the early modern period. It is only when seen in this light that the key arguments of the period can reveal their true virtues and flaws.
To make his case, Ott explores such central topics as intentionality, the varieties of necessity, and the nature of relations. Arguing for controversial readings of many of the canonical figures, the book also focuses on lesser-known writers such as Pierre-Sylvain Regis, Nicolas Malebranche, and Robert Boyle.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199570430
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2009
Pages:	274
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Walter Ott holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. He is the author of Locke's Philosophy of Language (Cambridge University Press, 2004) and is currently Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Virginia Tech.

Table of Contents

IntroductionPart I: The Cartesian predicament1. What mechanism isn't2. The rejection of Aristotelianism3. The nude wax: Cartesian ontology4. The laws of nature5. Force6. OccasionalismPart II: The dialectic of occasionalism7. Malebranche and the cognitive model of causation8. Laws and divine volitions9. Causation and explanation10. A scholastic mechanism11. Régis against the occasionalistsPart III: Power and necessity12. 'A dead cadaverous thing'13. Relations and powers14. Boyle's paradox15. Boyle and the concurrentists16. Locke on relations17. Locke on powers: The geometrical model18. Locke's mechanisms19. ConclusionPart IV: Hume20. The Two Humes21. Intentionality22. Necessity23. Relations24. The definition of causation25. Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

"I enthusiastically commend this engaging (something dryly humorous), skillful, and stimulating work in the history of philosophy. It will certainly be of considerable interest and value to early modern scholars and students and to many readers of this journal." —Journal of the InternationalSociety for the History of Philosophy of Science

"In Causation & Laws of Nature in Early Modern Philosophy, Walter Ott offers us a fascinating account of the development of theories of causation and laws of nature in the early modern period." —Journal of the History of Philosophy

"Walter Ott offers an especially clear narrative concerning the development of the notions of causation and causal laws during the period bounded by Descartes and Hume. This narrative usefully distinguishes "bottom-up" approaches that take causation to be grounded in the properties of physical objects from 'top-down' approaches that take causal laws to provide a contribution to causation in the physical wo


"In Causation & Laws of Nature in Early Modern Philosophy, Walter Ott offers us a fascinating account of the development of theories of causation and laws of nature in the early modern period." —Journal of the History of Philosophy

"Walter Ott offers an especially clear narrative concerning the development of the notions of causation and causal laws during the period bounded by Descartes and Hume. This narrative usefully distinguishes "bottom-up" approaches that take causation to be grounded in the properties of physical objects from 'top-down' approaches that take causal laws to provide a contribution to causation in the physical world that cannot be reduced to the contribution of such properties. A distinctive feature of Ott's discussion is its use of the views of R gis and Locke to illustrate the nature of bottom-up accounts of causation in the early modern period. Various aspects of Ott's interpretations both of these figures and of Descartes, Malebranche, Boyle and Hume


"Walter Ott offers an especially clear narrative concerning the development of the notions of causation and causal laws during the period bounded by Descartes and Hume. This narrative usefully distinguishes "bottom-up" approaches that take causation to be grounded in the properties of physical objects from 'top-down' approaches that take causal laws to provide a contribution to causation in the physical world that cannot be reduced to the contribution of such properties. A distinctive feature of Ott's discussion is its use of the views of Regis and Locke to illustrate the nature of bottom-up accounts of causation in the early modern period. Various aspects of Ott's interpretations both of these figures and of Descartes, Malebranche, Boyle and Hume are controversial but merit the further consideration they no doubt will receive."—Tad M. Schmaltz, Duke University
"Causation and Laws of Nature combines philosophical acumen and historical care to offer a fresh perspective on early

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