Nature's capacities and their measurement [[electronic resource] /] / Nancy Cartwright

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910780304103321
• Autore: Cartwright Nancy
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Oxford, : Clarendon Press; New York, : Oxford University Press, 1989
• ISBN: 0-19-159716-3; 1-281-98101-X; 9786611981013; 0-19-151978-2
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (279 p.)
• Collana: Clarendon Paperbacks
• Disciplina: 530/.01
• Soggetti: Causality (Physics); Probabilities; Physics - Philosophy; Quantum theory; Econometrics
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographic references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: ""Contents""; ""Introduction""; ""1. How to Get Causes from Probabilities""; ""1.1. Introduction""; ""1.2. Determining Causal Structure""; ""1.3. Inus Conditions""; ""1.4. Causes and Probabilities in Linear Models""; ""1.5. Conclusion""; ""Appendix: Back Paths and the Identification of Causes""; ""2. No Causes In, No Causes Out""; ""2.1. Introduction""; ""2.2. Causes at Work in Mathematical Physics""; ""2.3. New Knowledge Requires Old Knowledge""; ""2.4. How Causal Reasoning Succeeds""; ""2.5. Discovering Causal Structure: Can the Hypothetico-Deductive Method Work?""; ""2.6. Conclusion""; ""3. Singular Causes First""""3.1. Introduction""; ""3.2. Where Singular Causes Enter""; ""3.3. When Causes Are Probabilistic""; ""3.4. More in Favour of Singular Causes""; ""3.5. Singular Causes In, Singular Causes Out""; ""3.6. Conclusion""; ""4. Capacities""; ""4.1. Introduction""; ""4.2. Why Should Increases in Probability Recur?""; ""4.3. Forecasting and the Stability of Capacities""; ""4.4. Beyond Modality""; ""4.5. Mill in Defence ; of Capacities""; ""4.6. Conclusion""; ""5. Abstract and Concrete""; ""5.1. Introduction""; ""5.2. Idealization and the Need for Capacities""; ""5.3. Abstractions versus Symbolic Representations""""5.4. What do Abstract Laws Say?""; ""5.5. Concreteness and Causal Structure""; ""5.6. Conclusion""; ""6. What Econometrics Can Teach Quantum Physics: Causality and the Bell Inequality""; ""6.1. Introduction""; ""6.2. Bell's Inequality""; ""6.3. A General Common-Cause Criterion for the EPR Experiment""; ""6.4. Quantum Realism and the Factorizability Condition""; ""6.5. A Common-Cause Model for EPR""; ""6.6. Quantum Mechanics and its Causal Structure""; ""6.7. Factorizability and the Propagation of Causes""; ""6.8. Conclusion""; ""Appendices""""I. A More General Common-Cause Model for EPR""; ""II. Do Quantum Causes Propagate?""; ""III. Propagation, Effect-Locality, and Completeness: A Comparison""; ""Index""; ""A""; ""B""; ""C""; ""D""; ""E""; ""F""; ""G""; ""H""; ""I""; ""J""; ""K""; ""L""; ""M""; ""N""; ""O""; ""P""; ""Q""; ""R""; ""S""; ""T""; ""U""; ""V""; ""W""
• Sommario/riassunto: This book on the philosophy of science argues for an empiricism, opposed to the tradition of David Hume, in which singular rather than general causal claims are primary.