Causation, constitution and context

Constitution and Causation

I argue that the constitution relation transmits causal efficacy and thus is a suitable relation to deploy in many troubled areas of philosophy, such as the mind– body problem. We need not demand identity.

Causation , Physics , and the Constitution of Reality : Russell ’ s

This is an outstanding anthology. It contains extended reflections on Russell’s idea that our notion of causation is a relic of stone-age metaphysics, which fails to fit contemporary physics and thus deserves elimination (‘On the Notion of Cause’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 13, 1913, pp. 1–26). It will be of interest to anyone interested in causation or the physical image of the w...

Causation and Constitution in System Dynamics: Modelling a Socially Constituted World

This paper discusses the claim that System Dynamics models are unable to represent constitutional change. They do represent state transitions, but not constitutional transitions. Because the latter kind of transitions is the rule rather than the exception in the study of social phenomena, this inability has serious consequences. First of all, it leads to a neglect of constitutional issues; caus...

Causation and Mental Causation

How the mind of a human being can determine the bodily spirits [i.e., the fluids in the nerves, muscles, etc.] in producing voluntary actions, being only a thinking substance. For it appears that all determination of movement is produced by the pushing of the thing being moved, by the manner in which it is pushed by that which moves it, or else by the qualification and figure of the surface of ...

Taxation and the Constitution