Causes and Coincidences

by David Owens

Overview

In an important departure from current theories of causation, David Owens proposes that coincidences have no causes, and that a cause is something that ensures that its effects are no coincidence. He elucidates the idea of a coincidence as an event that can be divided into constituent events, the nomological antecedents of which are independent of each other. He also suggests that causal facts can be analyzed in terms of non-causal facts, including relations of necessity. Thus, causation is defined in terms of coincidence, and coincidence without reference to causation. In a book that will be of particular interest to those concerned with the role of causation in the philosophy of mind, David Owens challenges ideas of Hume, Davidson and Lewis, and offers novel solutions to the problems still confronting theorists of causation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521416504
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/28/1992
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Philosophy
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	5.79(w) x 8.82(h) x 0.71(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction; 1. The inexplicability of a coincidence; 2. Causes and laws; 3. Events and non-causal explanations; 4. Causal explanation; 5. The direction of causal explanation; 6. Levels of causation; 7. Deviant causal chains; 8. Causation in action; Conclusion: whither causal realism?; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...Owens' candor, his willingness to express philosophical puzzlement where puzzles exist for him, is especially refreshing. His book is a lively contribution to the growing literature on causation." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

From the Publisher