Revitalizing Causality: Realism about Causality in Philosophy and Social Science

by Ruth Groff (Editor)

Overview

This cutting edge collection of new and previously published articles by philosophers and social scientists addresses just what it means to invoke causal mechanisms, or powers, in the context of offering a causal explanation. A unique collection, it offers the reader various disciplinary and inter-disciplinary divides, helping to stake out a new, neo-Aristotelian position within contemporary debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415372183
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/20/2007
Series:	Routledge Studies in Critical Realism , #18
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Part I – Key Formulations 1. Critical Realism and Substance 2. Causality and Substance 3. Essence and Accident 4. Conceptual and Natural Necessity 5. Powers and Dispositions Part II – Realism About Causality in Philosophy 6. Meaning, Truth and Causal Explanation: The ‘Humean Condition’ Revisited 7. Aristotelian Powers 8. Powers, Dispositions, Properties 9. Inessential Aristotle: Powers Without Essences 10. Causal Exclusion and Evolved Emergent Properties 11. Are There Natural Kinds in Psychology? Part III – Realism About Causality in Social Science 12. Sociology’s Causal Confusion 13. The Mother of All Isms: Causal Mechanisms in Political Science 14. Marxisn Crisis Theory and Causality 15. On the Clear Comprehension of Political Economy: Social Kinds and the Significance of Section 2 of Marx's Capital