Manipulating Shadows: Towards an Evidentialist (Dis)solution of the Causal Exclusion Problem

Manipulating Shadows: Towards an Evidentialist (Dis)solution of the Causal Exclusion Problem

Lorenzo Baravalle
Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal | lbaravalle@fc.ul.pt

Received: 16-May-2019 | Accepted: 26-November-2019 | Published: 27-December-2019
Disputatio [Dec. 2019], Vol. 8, No. 11, pp. 355–380 | DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3594058
Article | [SP] | Full Text | Statistics | Copyright Notice [sp] | Vol. 8 No. 11

How to cite this article:
Baravalle, Lorenzo (2019). «Manipulando sombras: Hacia una (dis)solución evidencialista del problema de la exclusión causal». Disputatio. Philosophical Research Bulletin 8, no. 11: pp. 355–380.


Abstract | A classic problem in philosophy of mind is the possible exclusion of mental causes with respect to the physical ones. This problem, popularised by Jaegwon Kim, has undesirable consequences for any scientific discipline committed with causal claims related to supervenient properties. Focusing on issues concerning causal claims in the special sciences, I discuss in this paper the solution to the causal exclusion problem put forward by a group of authors occasionally called «evidentialists». Evidentialists consider that causal exclusion problem can be solved by appealing to the manipulationist notion of cause, originally formulated by James Woodward. Throughout the last 10 year, the evidentialist view has received some criticisms by Michael Baumgartner. My goal is to show in which respects these criticisms are correct, but do not compromise the overall validity of the evidentialist view.
Keywords |
Supervenience · Causal Models · Manipulationism · Evidentialism.

Manipulando sombras: Hacia una (di)solución evidencialista del problema de la exclusión causal

Abstract | Un problema clásico en filosofía de la mente es el de la posible exclusión de las causas mentales respecto a las físicas. Tal problema, popularizado por Jaegwon Kim, tiene consecuencias indeseables para cualquier disciplina científica que se comprometa con atribuir relevancia causal a propiedades supervenientes. Enfocando mi atención sobre cuestiones relacionadas con atribuciones causales en las ciencias especiales, discuto en este artículo la solución al problema de la exclusión causal propuesta por un grupo de autores ocasionalmente denominados «evidencialistas». Los evidencialistas consideran que el problema de la exclusión causal puede ser solucionado apelando a la noción de causa manipulacionista, elaborada originariamente por James Woodward. A lo largo de los últimos 10 años, la perspectiva evidencialista ha recibido algunas críticas por parte de Michael Baumgartner. Mi objetivo es el de mostrar en que aspectos estas críticas son acertadas, pero no comprometen substancialmente la validez de la perspectiva evidencialista.
Parole chiave | Superveniencia · Modelos causales · Manipulacionismo · Evidencialismo.


References

Baumgartner, Michael (2009). «Interventionist Causal Exclusion and Non-Reductive Physicalism». International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 23: pp. 161-178. http://doi.org/10.1080/02698590903006909.

Baumgartner, Michael (2010). «Interventionism and Epiphenomenalism». Canadian Journal of Philosophy 40: pp. 510-529.

Baumgartner, Michael (2013). «Rendering Interventionism and Non-Reductive Physicalism Compatible». Dialectica 67: pp. 1-27. http://doi.org/10.1111/1746-8361.12008.

Baumgartner, Michael (2017). «The Inherent Empirical Underdetermination of Mental Causation». Australasian Journal of Philosophy 96: pp. 335-150. http://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2017.1328451.

Bontly, Thomas D. (2002). «The Supervenience Argument Generalizes». Philosophical Studies 109: pp. 75-96.

Craver, Carl F. (2007). Explaining the Brain: Mechanisms and the Mosaic Unity of Neuroscience. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Eronen, Markus (2012). «Pluralistic Physicalism and the Causal Exclusion Argument». European Journal for the Philosophy of Science 2: pp. 219-232.

Eronen, M. & Brooks, D. S. (2014) Interventionism and Supervenience: A New Problem and Provisional Solution. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 28: pp. 185-202.

Gebharter, Alexander (2017). Causal Nets, Interventionism, and Mechanisms: Philosophical Foundations and Applications. Berlin: Springer.

Hausman, Daniel & Woodward, James (1999). «Manipulation and the Causal Markov Condition». Philosophy of Science 50: pp. 521-583. http://doi.org/10.1086/425235

Hitchcock, Cristopher (2018). «Causal Models». En: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, editado por Edward N. Zalta. Stanford, CA: Stanford University. Publicado por la primera vez el 7 de agosto de 2018. Consultado el 22 de diciembre de 2019. Disponible en: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/causal-models/.

Hodgkin, Alan L. & Huxley Andrew F. (1952). «A Quantitative Description of Membrane Current and Its Application to Conduction and Excitation in Nerve». Journal of Physiology 117: pp. 500-544.

Holland, Paul (1986). «Statistics and Causal Inference». Journal of the American Statistical Association 81: pp. 945-960.

Kim, Jaegwon (1998). Mind in a Physical World. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Kim, Jaegwon (2005). Physicalism or Something Near Enough. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Lewis, David (1986). «Causation (Reprint with postscripts)». Philosophical Papers, vol. 2: pp. 159-213. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

List, Christian & Menzies, Peter (2009). «Nonreductive Physicalism and the Limits of the Exclusion Principle». Journal of Philosophy 106: pp. 475-502. doi: 10.5840/jphil2009106936.

Marras, Ausonio (1999). «Critical notice of Kim’s “Mind in a Physical World”». Canadian Journal of Philosophy 30: pp. 137-60.

Pearl, Judea (2009). Causality: Models, Reasoning and Inference (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pearl, Judea (2018). The Book of Why. New York: Basic Books.

Raatikainen, Panu (2010). «Causation, Exclusion, and the Special Sciences». Erkenntnis, 73: pp. 349-363. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-010-9236-0.

Reutlinger, Alexander (2013). A Theory of Causation in the Social and Biological Sciences. London: Palgrave MacMillan.

Sarkar, Sahotra (2005). Molecular Models of Life. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Scheines, Richard (2005). «The Similarity of Causal Inference in Experimental and Non-Experimental Studies». Philosophy of Science, 72: pp. 927-40. http://doi.org/10.1086/508950.

Shapiro, Larry & Sober, Elliott (2007) «Epiphenomenalism. The Dos and the Don’ts». En: Thinking about Causes: From Greek Philosophy to Modern Pyhisics, pp. 235-264, editado por Peter Machamer & Gereon Wolters. Pittsburg: University of Pittsburg Press.

Spirtes, Peter & Scheines, Richard (2005). «Causal Inference of Ambiguous Manipulations». Philosophy of Science 71: pp. 833-845. http://doi.org/10.1086/425058

Spirtes, Peter; Glymour, Clark & Scheines, Richard (2001). Causation, Prediction, and Search (2nd edition). Cambridge: MIT Press.

Weber, Marcel (2008). «Causes without Mechanisms: Experimental Regularities, Physical Laws, and Neuroscientific Explanation». Philosophy of Science 75: pp. 995-1007. http://doi.org/10.1086/594541.

Weslake, Brad (forthcoming) Exclusion Excluded. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science.

Woodward, James (2003). Making Thing Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation. New York: Oxford University Press.

Woodward, James (2008). «Mental Causation and Neural Mechanisms». En: Being Reduced. New Essays on Reduction, Explanation, and Causation, pp. 218-262, editado por Jakob Hohwy & Jesper Kallestrup. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Woodward, James (2015). «Interventionism and Causal Exclusion». Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 77: pp. 193-212. http://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12095.

Woodward, James (2016). «Causation and Manipulability». En: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, editado por Edward N. Zalta. Stanford, CA: Stanford University. Revisión substantiva al 14 de octubre de 2016. Consultado el 22 de diciembre de 2019. Disponible en: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/causation-mani/.

Woodward, James (2018). «Intervening in the Exclusion Argument». En: Making a Difference, pp. 251-268, editado por Helen Beebee; Christopher Hitchcock & Huw Price. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Yablo, Stephen (1992). «Mental Causation». Philosophical Review 101: pp. 245-280. http://doi.org/10.2307/2185535.


© The author(s) 2019. This work, published by Disputatio [www.disputatio.eu], is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License [BY–NC–ND]. The copy, distribution and public communication of this work will be according to the copyright notice. For inquiries and permissions, please email: boletin@disputatio.eu.