Explanatory autonomy: the role of proportionality, stability, and conditional irrelevance.

This paper responds to recent criticisms of the idea that true causal claims, satisfying a minimal "interventionist" criterion for causation, can differ in the extent to which they satisfy other conditions—called stability and proportionality—that are relevant to their use in explanatory theorizing....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 198; no. 1; pp. 237 - 266
Autor principal: Woodward, James
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Jan2021
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:This paper responds to recent criticisms of the idea that true causal claims, satisfying a minimal "interventionist" criterion for causation, can differ in the extent to which they satisfy other conditions—called stability and proportionality—that are relevant to their use in explanatory theorizing. It reformulates the notion of proportionality so as to avoid problems with previous formulations. It also introduces the notion of conditional independence or irrelevance, which I claim is central to understanding the respects and the extent to which upper level explanations can be "autonomous".