Causality in the Sciences - Hardcover

This volume is a highly welcome addition to the current discussion of causality at the intersection of philosophy and the sciences ... the volume provides a well-chosen compilation of contributions proving the ongoing progress in exploring the nature of causality and in developing applicable causal concepts in cooperation of philosophy and science. We can warmly recommend Causality in the Sciences to any philosophically interested scientist or philosopher interested in causality (or mechanisms) and its (their) applications in the sciences. (Metascience)

There is a need for integrated thinking about causality, probability and mechanisms in scientific methodology. Causality and probability are long-established central concepts in the sciences, with a corresponding philosophical literature examining their problems. On the other hand, the philosophical literature examining mechanisms is not long-established, and there is no clear idea of how mechanisms relate to causality and probability. But we need some idea if we are to understand causal inference in the sciences: a panoply of disciplines, ranging from epidemiology to biology, from econometrics to physics, routinely make use of probability, statistics, theory and mechanisms to infer causal relationships.

These disciplines have developed very different methods, where causality and probability often seem to have different understandings, and where the mechanisms involved often look very different. This variegated situation raises the question of whether the different sciences are really using different concepts, or whether progress in understanding the tools of causal inference in some sciences can lead to progress in other sciences. The book tackles these questions as well as others concerning the use of causality in the sciences.