Can parts cause their wholes?

Friend, Toby

doi:10.1007/s11229-018-1694-y

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Aromaticity arguably doesn't cause a disposition to produce aromatic ring currents since the two properties vary synchronically with one another. The instant aromaticity is present so is the disposition to produce aromatic ring currents but causal relations are generally thought to be diachronic (see, e.g., Craver 2007;Kim 2000;Mellor 1995;Russell 1912;and Friend 2019 for a reply) .…”

Section: Grounding Pandispositionalism?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispositions and Powers

Friend

Kimpton‐Nye

2023

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As we understand them, dispositions are relatively uncontroversial 'predicatory' properties had by objects disposed in certain ways. By contrast, powers are hypothetical 'ontic' properties posited in order to explain dispositional behaviour. Chapter 1 outlines this distinction in more detail. Chapter 2 offers a summary of the issues surrounding analysis of dispositions and various strategies in contemporary literature to address them, including one of our own. Chapter 3 describes some of the important questions facing the metaphysics of powers including why they're worth positing, and how they might metaphysically explain laws of nature and modality.

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Section: Grounding Pandispositionalism?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispositions and Powers

Friend

Kimpton‐Nye

2023

Self Cite

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“…Franklin and Seifert (2020) point out that the use of the BO approximation is a result of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. The measurement problem arises because quantum physics predicts certain systems to be in superposition states relative to a measurement basis even though the measurement of those states produces 65 Others argue that synchronic causation is coherent (see Friend 2019). 66 Hettema raises a similar worry (2017: 237).…”

Section: Case VII Molecular Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Chemistry's Metaphysics

Seifert

2023

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The place of chemistry in the metaphysics of science may be viewed as peripheral compared to physics and biology. However, a metaphysics of science that disregards chemistry would be incomplete and ill-informed. This Element establishes this claim by showing how key metaphysical issues are informed by drawing on chemistry. Five metaphysical topics are investigated: natural kinds, scientific realism, reduction, laws and causation. These topics are spelled out from the perspective of ten chemical case studies, each of which illuminates the novel ways that metaphysics of science can be informed by chemistry. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

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The causal efficacy of composites: a dilemma for interventionism

Blanchard

2023

Philos Stud

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This paper argues that the interventionist account of causation faces a dilemma concerning macroscopic causation – i.e., causation by composite objects. Interventionism must either require interventions on a composite object to hold the behavior of its parts fixed, or allow such interventions to vary the behavior of those parts. The first option runs the risk of making wholes causally excluded by their parts, while the second runs the risk of mistakenly ascribing to wholes causal abilities that belong to their parts only. Using as starting point Baumgartner’s well-known argument that interventionism leads to causal exclusion of multiply realized properties, I first show that a similar interventionist exclusion argument can be mounted against the causal efficacy of composite objects. I then show that Woodward’s (2015) updated interventionist account (explicitly designed to address exclusion worries) avoids this problem, but runs into an opposite issue of over-inclusion: it grants to composites causal abilities that belong to their parts only. Finally, I examine two other interventionist accounts designed to address Baumgartner’s argument, and show that when applied to composites, they too fall on one horn (exclusion) or the other (over-inclusion) of the dilemma. I conclude that the dilemma constitutes an open and difficult issue for interventionism.

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Can parts cause their wholes?

Cited by 8 publications

References 38 publications

Dispositions and Powers

Dispositions and Powers

Chemistry's Metaphysics

The causal efficacy of composites: a dilemma for interventionism

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