Running head: CAUSAL AND COUNTERFACTUAL EXPLANATION Mental Simulation and the Nexus of Causal and Counterfactual Explanation
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Reassessing Woodward’s account of explanation: regularities, counterfactuals, and non-causal explanations
We reassess Woodward’s counterfactual account of explanation in relation to regularity explananda. Woodward (2005) presents an account of causal explanation. We argue, by using an explanation of Kleiber’s law to illustrate, that the account can cover also some non-causal explanations. This leads to a tension between the two key aspects of Woodward’s account: the counterfactual aspect and the ca...
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Both philosophers and psychologists have argued for the existence of distinct kinds of explanations, including teleological explanations that cite functions or goals, and mechanistic explanations that cite causal mechanisms. Theories of causation, in contrast, have generally been unitary, with dominant theories focusing either on counterfactual dependence or on physical connections. This paper ...
متن کاملCausal Explanation and Manipulation
Causal explanation proceeds by citing the causes of the explanandum. Any model of causal explanation requires a specification of the relation between cause and effect in virtue of which citing the cause explains the effect. In particular, it requires a specification of what it is for the explanandum to be causally dependent on the explanans and what types of things (broadly understood) the expl...
متن کاملMarbles in Inaction: Counterfactual Simulation and Causation by Omission
Consider the following causal explanation: The ball went through the goal because the defender didn’t block it. There are at least two problems with citing omissions as causal explanations. First, how do we choose the relevant candidate omission (e.g. why the defender and not the goalkeeper). Second, how do we determine what would have happened in the relevant counterfactual situation (i.e. may...
متن کاملCausal and constitutive explanation compared
This article compares causal and constitutive explanation. While scientific inquiry usually addresses both causal and constitutive questions, making the distinction is crucial for a detailed understanding of scientific questions and their interrelations. These explanations have different kinds of explananda and they track different sorts of dependencies. Constitutive explanations do not address...
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تاریخ انتشار 2010