The Chances of Explanation (eBook)

Causal Explanation in the Social, Medical, and Physical Sciences

Paul Humphreys (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2014
182 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4008-6076-0 (ISBN)

Infos

This book provides a post-positivist theory of deterministic and probabilistic causality that supports both quantitative and qualitative explanations. Features of particular interest include the ability to provide true explanations in contexts where our knowledge is incomplete, a systematic interpretation of causal modeling techniques in the social sciences, and a direct realist view of causal relations that is compatible with a liberal empiricism. The book should be of wide interest to both philosophers and scientists.Originally published in 1989.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.7.2014
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Legacy Library
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Legacy Library
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie
• Schlagworte: Additive model • ad hoc • Ambiguity • Analogy • appearance and reality • A priori and a posteriori • association of ideas • asymmetry • Axiom • Bayesian probability • Begging the Question • Calculation • Causal chain • causal inference • Causality • causal model • Causal system • Causal theory • Ceteris paribus • Choice function • circular reasoning • coincidence • conditional expectation • Corrective and preventive action • Correlation and dependence • Counterargument • counterexample • Counterfactual conditional • Counterfactual definiteness • Deductive-nomological model • detection • Disposition • Dummy variable (statistics) • Empiricism • estimation • existential quantification • expected value • Experiment • experimentalism • Explanandum • Explanation • explanatory power • external validity • hypothesis • identifiability • Inductive probability • inference • Instrumentalism • interaction • Joint probability distribution • Latent Variable • Likelihood Function • Logical possibility • Materialism • Observation • Ontology • path coefficient • performative utterance • phenomenon • philosophical theory • Polemic • Positivism • possible world • potential well • Pragmatism • precondition • Predictability • Prediction • predictive power • Probabilistic causation • Probability • Probability Distribution • Probability interpretations • probability measure • Probability space • Probability Theory • Qualitative property • reason • Relativism • Relevance • reproducibility • Requirement • result • Salva veritate • Simultaneity • Sine qua non • Sophistication • Special case • Speculative reason • statistical significance • Suggestion • Symptom • Testability • theory • Thought • Thought experiment • Utilitarianism • Variable (mathematics) • Verisimilitude • Working hypothesis
• ISBN-10: 1-4008-6076-8 / 1400860768
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4008-6076-0 / 9781400860760