Understanding Counterfactuals, Understanding Causation: Issues in Philosophy and Psychology (Consciousness & Self-Consciousness Series) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199590699 ISBN 13: 9780199590698

Publisher: Oxford University Press(UK), 2011

Synopsis

How are causal judgements such as 'The ice on the road caused the traffic accident' connected with counterfactual judgements such as 'If there had not been any ice on the road, the traffic accident would not have happened'? This volume throws new light on this question by uniting, for the first time, psychological and philosophical approaches to causation and counterfactuals. Traditionally, philosophers have primarily been interested in connections between causal and counterfactual claims on the level of meaning or truth-conditions. More recently, however, they have also increasingly turned their attention to psychological connections between causal and counterfactual understanding or reasoning. At the same time, there has been a surge in interest in empirical work on causal and counterfactual cognition amongst developmental, cognitive, and social psychologists―much of it inspired by work in philosophy. In this volume, twelve original contributions from leading philosophers and psychologists explore in detail what bearing empirical findings might have on philosophical concerns about counterfactuals and causation, and how, in turn, work in philosophy might help clarify the issues at stake in empirical work on the cognitive underpinnings of, and relationships between, causal and counterfactual thought.

About this title

Product Description:

1st OUP Oxford hardcover 2011 1st print new condition book in new condition dw In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Review:

an excellent addition to the field ... This is certainly an interesting volume and makes a major contribution to counterfactual accounts of causation. The analysis of empirical studies in the psychological literature provides an evidence-based approach for philosophers who are interested in counterfactual accounts of causation. Moreover, the conceptual problems are illuminated by these empirical studies and suggest more nuanced conceptual questions about the role of counterfactual reasoning in causal thought. This interdisciplinary volume is a must read for advanced students of causation in both philosophy and psychology as well as most obviously for academics in both fields. (Emma Tobin, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews)

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press(UK)
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0199590699
• ISBN 13: 9780199590698
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 280
• Editor: Hoerl Christoph, McCormack Teresa, Beck Sarah R.