Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T23:31:44.834Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Discussion: Probabilistic Causality: A Rejoinder to Ellery Eells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

John Dupré
John Dupré*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Stanford University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In an earlier paper (Dupré 1984), I criticized a thesis sometimes defended by theorists of probabilistic causality, namely, that a probabilistic cause must raise the probability of its effect in every possible set of causally relevant background conditions (the “contextual unanimity thesis”). I also suggested that a more promising analysis of probabilistic causality might be sought in terms of statistical relevance in a fair sample. Ellery Eells (1987) has defended the contextual unanimity thesis against my objections, and also raised objections of his own to my positive claims. In this paper I defend and amplify both my objections to the contextual unanimity thesis and my constructive suggestion.

Type
Discussion
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 57 , Issue 4 , December 1990 , pp. 690 - 698
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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.)

References

Dupré, J. (1983), “The Disunity of Science”, Mind 92: 321–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dupré, J. (1984), “Probabilistic Causality Emancipated”, in P. A. French, T. E. Uehling Jr., and H. K. Wettstein (eds.), Midwest Studies in Philosophy IX: Causation and Causal Theories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 169–175.Google Scholar
Dupré, J. (1988), “Materialism, Physicalism, and Scientism”, Philosophical Topics 16: 31–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dupré, J., and Cartwright, N. (1988), “Probability and Causality: Why Hume and Indeterminism Don't Mix”, Noûs 22: 521–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eells, E. (1986), “Probabilistic Causal Interaction”, Philosophy of Science 53: 52–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eells, E. (1987), “Probabilistic Causality: Reply to John Dupré”, Philosophy of Science 54: 105–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eells, E., and Sober, E. (1983), “Probabilistic Causality and the Question of Transitivity”, Philosophy of Science 50: 35–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giere, R. N. (1984), Understanding Scientific Reasoning, 2nd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Hempel, C. G. (1965), Aspects of Scientific Explanation. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Smart, J. J. C. (1963), Philosophy and Scientific Realism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Suppes, P. (1984), Probabilistic Metaphysics. Oxford and New York: Blackwell.Google Scholar