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Causes and Coincidences David Owens

Causes and Coincidences By David Owens

Causes and Coincidences by David Owens


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Summary

In an important departure from theories of causation, David Owens challenges the ideas of Hume, Davidson and Lewis, and offers alternative solutions to the problems still confronting theorists of causation.

Causes and Coincidences Summary

Causes and Coincidences by David Owens

In an important departure from theories of causation, David Owens proposes that coincidences have no causes, and that a cause is something which ensures that its effects are no coincidence. In Causes and Coincidences, he elucidates the idea of a coincidence as an event which can be analysed into constituent events, the nomological antecedents of which are independent of each other. He also suggests that causal facts can be analysed in terms of non-causal facts, including relations of necessity. Thus, causation is defined in terms of coincidence, and coincidence without reference to causation. David Owens challenges the ideas associated with Hume, Davidson and Lewis, constructing a theory which distinguishes nomological necessity and sufficiency from their logical counterparts. He is able to offer novel solutions to the major problems of causation, including the direction of causation, the logical form of causal statements, the distinction betwen causal connections and logical connections, and the relationship between psychological and physical causation.

Causes and Coincidences Reviews

...Owens' candor, his willingness to express philosophical puzzlement where puzzles exist for him, is especially refreshing. His book is a lively contribution to the growing literature on causation. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction; 1. The inexplicability of a coincidence; 2. Causes and laws; 3. Events and non-causal explanations; 4. Causal explanation; 5. The direction of causal explanation; 6. Levels of causation; 7. Deviant causal chains; 8. Causation in action; Conclusion: whither causal realism?; Bibliography; Index.

Additional information

NLS9780521044486
9780521044486
0521044480
Causes and Coincidences by David Owens
New
Paperback
Cambridge University Press
2007-11-29
204
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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Customer Reviews - Causes and Coincidences