Causality

Philosophical Theory meets Scientific Practice

Phyllis Illari and Federica Russo

A guide to many issues of causality with many examples, both simplified ones (such as the well-known 'smoking causes cancer') and real scientific ones (such as research conducted on biomarkers of disease in the EU funded project 'EXPOsOMICS')
A comprehensive guide to the numerous accounts, theories, and concepts of causality developed in the last decade
Provides a map of where causality accounts stand and how they can be related to scientific problems
Puts the philosophical work on causality into context within the sciences
Makes challenging philosophical ideas accessible to students at advanced undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels

Causality

Philosophical Theory meets Scientific Practice

Phyllis Illari and Federica Russo

Description

Head hits cause brain damage - but not always. Should we ban sport to protect athletes? Exposure to electromagnetic fields is strongly associated with cancer development - does that mean exposure causes cancer? Should we encourage old fashioned communication instead of mobile phones to reduce cancer rates? According to popular wisdom, the Mediterranean diet keeps you healthy. Is this belief scientifically sound? Should public health bodies encourage consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables? Severe financial constraints on research and public policy, media pressure, and public anxiety make such questions of immense current concern not just to philosophers but to scientists, governments, public bodies, and the general public.

In the last decade there has been an explosion of theorizing about causality in philosophy, and also in the sciences. This literature is both fascinating and important, but it is involved and highly technical. This makes it inaccessible to many who would like to use it, philosophers and scientists alike.

This book is an introduction to philosophy of causality - one that is highly accessible: to scientists unacquainted with philosophy, to philosophers unacquainted with science, and to anyone else lost in the labyrinth of philosophical theories of causality. It presents key philosophical accounts, concepts and methods, using examples from the sciences to show how to apply philosophical debates to scientific problems.

Causality

Philosophical Theory meets Scientific Practice

Phyllis Illari and Federica Russo

I PRELUDE TO CAUSALITY
1. Problems of causality in the sciences
2. A scientific toolbox for philosophy
3. A philosophical toolbox for science
II CAUSALITY: ACCOUNTS, CONCEPTS, AND METHODS
4. Necessary and sufficient components
5. Levels of causation
6. Causality and evidence
7. Causal methods: probing the data
8. Difference-making: probabilistic causality
9. Difference-making: counterfactuals
10. Difference-making: manipulation and invariance
11. Production accounts: processes
12. Production accounts: mechanisms
13. Production accounts: information
14. Capacities, powers, dispositions
15. Regularity
16. Variation
17. Causality and action
18. Causality and inference
III APPROACHES TO EXAMINING CAUSALITY
19. How we got to the Causality in the Sciences approach (CitS)
20. Examples and counterexamples
21. Truth or models?
22. Epistemology, metaphysics, method, semantics, use
IV CONCLUSION: TOWARDS A CAUSAL MOSAIC
23. Pluralism
24. The causal mosaic under construction: the example of exposomics

Causality

Philosophical Theory meets Scientific Practice

Phyllis Illari and Federica Russo

Author Information

Phyllis Illari, Lecturer in Philosophy of Science, Science and Technology Studies Department, University College London,Federica Russo, Researcher in Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Ferrara, Italy

Phyllis Illari is Lecturer in Philosophy of Science in the Science and Technology Studies department at University College London. Before joining UCL in 2013, she finished a project on Information Quality with Luciano Floridi, and previously completed a project on Mechanisms and Causality with Jon Williamson. She is primarily research active in the philosophy of science, particularly the philosophy of causality and the philosophy of information. She is on the editorial board of the journal Philosophy and Technology, and on the committee of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science. She is the author of numerous articles in the philosophy of science and edited volumes and special issues on causality in the sciences, including Causality in the Sciences (OUP 2011) with Federica Russo and Jon Williamson. Since 2008, she and Federica Russo have been members of the Steering Committee of the 'Causality in the Sciences' conference series.

Federica Russo is Researcher in Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Ferrara (Italy) and has visited the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (London School of Economics) from April 2004 to January 2005 and the Center for Philosophy of Science (Pittsburgh) from January to April 2009. She is interested in causality and probability in the social, biomedical and policy sciences, as well as in the philosophical, legal, and social, implications of technology. Federica is part of the editorial board of the journals Philosophy and Technology and Topoi. She is the author of Causality and causal modelling in the social sciences. Measuring variations (Springer, 2009), and of numerous articles (sole or co-authored) on causality in the social, biomedical, and policy sciences. She has edited several volumes in philosophy of science and technology, including Causality in the Sciences (OUP 2011) with Phyllis Illari and Jon Williamson.

Causality

Philosophical Theory meets Scientific Practice

Phyllis Illari and Federica Russo

Reviews and Awards

"Causality is a hot topic in philosophy of science. ... The book is tailored to pedagogical contexts, both for scientists less familiar with philosophy and philosophers less familiar with science, and supplies a multitude of terminological clarifications and distinctions... Highly recommended." --CHOICE

"[T]he book covers an impressively wide range of interrelated topics in the philosophy of causation and their application to the natural sciences, and with a prose highly readable, often entertaining, and sprinkled with interesting, relevant, and illustrative historical anecdotes. For those reasons alone, it is easy to recommend this book to interested colleagues in either discipline: a highly accessible and candid treatment of this complex topic which sacrifices neither breadth nor depth no doubt deserves the attention of both parties." --Metascience

"The book is an excellent resource, well written and referenced, and a sheer pleasure to read. The authors' two main goals are to offer an introduction to the philosophy of causality and to be highly accessible. They have clearly achieved both goals. I recommend the text to medical and epidemiology students, fellow epidemiologists, and physicians unfamiliar with the philosophy of causality." --Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics

"This is a very useful book that contains no visible mathematics; however, the issue of causality both shrouds and underlies important issues in probability and statistics--issues which receive exemplary coverage in this volume. If you are active in the fields of probability and/or statistics, this is a very handy way to become aware of and examine the logical underpinnings of many of the things you do. It's an overview, but it is thorough. ... In short, Causality is a very useful tool." --MAA Reviews

Causality

Philosophical Theory meets Scientific Practice

Phyllis Illari and Federica Russo

From Our Blog

Why causality now?

Head hits cause brain damage, but not always. Should we ban sport to protect athletes? Exposure to electromagnetic fields is strongly associated with cancer development. Should we ban mobile phones and encourage old-fashioned wired communication? The sciences are getting more and more specialized and it is difficult to judge whether, say, we should trust homeopathy, fund a mission to Mars, or install solar panels on our roofs.

Posted on January 18, 2015

Read the blog post