The Facts of Causation (International Library of Philosophy)

Everything we do relies on causation. We eat and drink because this causes us to stay alive. Courts tell us who causes crimes, criminology tell us what causes people to commit them. D.H. Mellor shows us that to understand the world and our lives we must understand causation.The Facts of Causation, now available in paperback, is essential reading for students and for anyone interested in reading one of the ground-breaking theories in metaphysics. We cannot understand the world and our place in it without understanding causation. Yet a complete account of the nature and implications of causation does not exist. D.H Mellor's new book is that account. The Facts of Causation covers all kinds of causing and affecting, of both events and facts; deterministic and indeterministic, mental and physical, transparent and opaque. It shows how the chances a cause gives its effects enable it to explain, be evidence for and a means to them, and why it must precede and be (when immediate) contiguous to them. It explains how we detect causation and what embodies it, and why it entails laws of nature that determine the properties and kinds of facts our world contains. Finally it shows how causation distinguishes time from space, makes it linear, gives it a direction and explains our perception of it. Everything we do relies on causation. We eat and drink because this causes us to stay alive. Courts tell us who causes crimes, criminology tell us what causes people to commit them. D.H. Mellor shows us that to understand the world and our lives we must understand causation. The Facts of Causation, now available in paperback, is essential reading for students and for anyone interested in reading one of the ground-breaking theories in metaphysics. We cannot understand the world and our place in it without understanding causation. Yet a complete account of the nature and implication D.h. Mellor. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.