Williamson, Jon (2013) How can Causal explanations Explain? Erkenntnis, 78 (2). pp. 257-275. ISSN 0165-0106. E-ISSN 1572-8420. (doi:10.1007/s10670-013-9512-x) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:38169)
| The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided. | |
| Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10670-013-9512-x |
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Abstract
The mechanistic and causal accounts of explanation are often conflated to yield a `causal-mechanical' account. This paper prizes them apart and asks: if the mechanistic account is correct, how can causal explanations be explanatory? The answer to this question varies according to how causality itself is understood. It is argued that difference-making, mechanistic, dualist and inferentialist accounts of causality all struggle to yield explanatory causal explanations, but that an epistemic account of causality is more promising in this regard.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| DOI/Identification number: | 10.1007/s10670-013-9512-x |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) |
| Institutional Unit: | Schools > Language Centre |
| Former Institutional Unit: |
Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
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| Depositing User: | Jon Williamson |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Feb 2014 14:51 UTC |
| Last Modified: | 20 May 2025 08:50 UTC |
| Resource URI: | https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/38169 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes) |
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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0514-4209
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