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Epistemic causality and its application to the social and cognitive sciences

Shan, Yafeng and Taylor, Samuel D. and Williamson, Jon (2024) Epistemic causality and its application to the social and cognitive sciences. In: Alternative approaches to causation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-286348-5. (Access to this publication is currently restricted. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:103880)

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Abstract

The epistemic theory of causality views causality as a tool that helps us to predict, explain and control our world, rather than as a relation that exists independently of our epistemic practices. In this chapter, we first provide an introduction to the epistemic theory of causality. We then outline four considerations that motivate the epistemic theory: the failure of standard theories of causality; parsimony; the epistemology of causality; and neutrality. We illustrate these four considerations in the contexts of the social sciences and the cognitive sciences. We argue that the epistemic theory provides a very natural account of causality across these contexts.

Item Type: Book section
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF41 Psychology and philosophy
H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > Department of Philosophy
Funders: Leverhulme Trust (https://ror.org/012mzw131)
Depositing User: Jon Williamson
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2023 09:59 UTC
Last Modified: 06 Mar 2024 12:38 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/103880 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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