Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T14:12:38.749Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Attempts to move beyond Humeanism: strengths and weaknesses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Milja Kurki
Affiliation:
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Get access

Summary

Part I of this book has argued that so-called Humean assumptions, which reduce causal analysis to regularity analysis of observables and entail the assumptions of regularity-determinism (given regularities, we can make ‘when A, then B’ statements about causal relations and have a basis for prediction) and efficient causality (given regularities, causes should be thought of as ‘pushing and pulling forces’), have been overwhelmingly dominant in twentieth-century philosophy of science and philosophy of social science. It has been seen that contemporary IR theorising has also been deeply informed by these assumptions, which has given rise to particular kinds of understandings of the nature of causes and of causal analysis in the recent disciplinary debates. We have seen that rationalists, in their efforts to conform to prescriptions of the Humean conception of causal analysis, have conducted causal research that has tendencies towards ‘additive’ and regularity-deterministic analysis and that has found it difficult to engage with unobservable aspects of the social world, notably with processes of ‘social construction’. On the other hand, the reflectivists who have analysed these aspects of the social world have tended to reject causal analysis, with the hope of thereby avoiding the deterministic connotations of the Humean approaches. Constructivists have often retained some reference to causation but have in most cases been unable to think outside the Humean box when it comes to causal assumptions.

Type
Chapter
Information
Causation in International Relations
Reclaiming Causal Analysis
, pp. 147 - 188
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×