Regularity Theories Reassessed

For a long time, regularity accounts of causation have virtually vanished from the scene. Problems encountered within other theoretical frameworks have recently induced authors working on causation, laws of nature, or methodologies of causal reasoning – as e.g. May (Kausales Schliessen. Eine Untersuchung über kausale Erklärungen und Theorienbildung. Ph.D. thesis, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, 1999), Ragin (Fuzzy-set social science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), Graßhoff and May (Causal regularities. In W. Spohn, M. Ledwig, &; M. Esfeld (Eds.), Current issues in causation (pp. 85–114). Paderborn: Mentis, 2001), Swartz (The concept of physical law (2nd ed.). http://www.sfu.ca/philosophy/physical-law/, 2003), Halpin (Erkenntnis, 58, 137–168, 2003) – to direct their attention back to regularity theoretic analyses. In light of the latest proposals of regularity theories, the paper at hand therefore reassesses the criticism raised against regularity accounts since the INUS theory of causation of Mackie (The cement of the universe. A study of causation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974). It is shown that most of these objections target strikingly over-simplified regularity theoretic sketches. By outlining ways to refute these objections it is argued that the prevalent conviction as to the overall failure of regularity theories has been hasty.     

WHAT IS PHYSICALISM?

Although 'most contemporary analytic philosophers [endorse] a physicalist picture of the world' (A. Newen; V. Hoffmann; M. Esfeld, 'Preface to Mental Causation, Externalism and Self-Knowledge', Erkenntnis , 67 (2007), p. 147), it is unclear what exactly the physicalist thesis states. The response that physicalism is the thesis that everything is physical does not solve the problem but is a precise statement of the problem because 'the claim is hopelessly vague' (G. Hellman; F. Thompson, 'Physicalism: Ontology, Determination, and Reduction', Journal of Philosophy , 72 (1975), p. 552). I argue that physicalism in fact should be the thesis that every existing particular essentially exemplifies properties the exemplification of which does not conceptually entail the existence of conscious beings. Physicalism thus is a purely philosophical thesis with no intrinsic relation to physics. ¹     

Strategic behavior and counterfactuals

The difficulty of defining rational behavior in game situations is that the players' strategies will depend on their expectations about other players' strategies. These expectations are beliefs the players come to the game with. Game theorists assume these beliefs to be rational in the very special sense of beingobjectively correct but no explanation is offered of the mechanism generating this property of the belief system. In many interesting cases, however, such a rationality requirement is not enough to guarantee that an equilibrium will be attained. In particular, I analyze the case of multiple equilibria, since in this case there exists a whole set of rational beliefs, so that no player can ever be certain that the others believe he has certain beliefs. In this case it becomes necessary to explicitly model the process of belief formation. This model attributes to the players a theory of counterfactuals which they use in restricting the set of possible equilibria. If it were possible to attribute to the players the same theory of counterfactuals, then the players' beliefs would eventually converge.I wish to thank Michael Bacharach, In-Koo Cho, William Harper, Aanund Hylland, Isaac Levi, Wolfgang Spohn, Tommy Tan and two anonymous referees for many useful comments and suggestions. Financial support from National Science Foundation grant SES 87-10209 is gratefully acknowledged.     

An assessment of Church life in Vietnam

Biblia: Válogatás a Vizsolyi Bibliábol (Bible: Selections from the Vizsoly Bible) compiled by István Vas. Budapest: Európa könyvkiadó, 1986. 933 pp. 125 Ft.

Vallási kisközösségek Magyarországon (Small Religious Communities in Hungary ) by József Fodor. Budapest: Magyar Média, n.d. Paperback, 168 pp.

The Struggles for Poland by Neal Ascherson. London: Michael Joseph, 1987. 242 pp, £14·95.

Human Rights in Yugoslavia edited by Oskar Gruenwald and Karen Rosenblum‐Cale. Los Angeles: Institute for Interdisciplinary Research; New York: Irvington Publishers, 1986. 673 pp.

?rtve Drugog Svetskog Rata u Jugoslaviji (Victims of the Second World War in Yugoslavia) by Bogoljub Ko?ovi?. London: Biblioteka Na?e Delo, 1985. 205 pp. Include English and French summaries

The Churches of China by Britt E. Towery, Jr. Revised and enlarged second edition. Waco, Texas: Long Dragon Books, 1987. 300 pp.

Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan by Olivier Roy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Paperback, 254 pp.

Ioann XXIII ‐ Pobornik edinstva khristian (John XXIII: Bringer of Christian Unity) by Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Novgorod Vienna: Pro Oriente, 1984. 656 pp.

A Radiance in the Gulag by Nijole Sadunaite. Translated by Rev. Casimir Pugevi?ius and Marian Skabeikis. Manassas, Virginia: Trinity Communications, 1987. Paperback, 148 pp. English printing planned for January 1988.

Book note

Der Geistliche und seine Gemeinde in Osteuropa (The Priest and his Parish in Eastern Europe) edited by Wolfgang Kasack. Berlin: Berlin Verlag, 1986. Paperback, 160 pp.     

Mind the Croc! Rationality Gaps vis-à-vis the Crocodile Paradox

This article discusses rationality gaps triggered by self-referential/cyclic choice, the latter being understood as choosing according to a norm that refers to the choosing itself. The Crocodile Paradox is reformulated and analyzed as a game—named CP—whose Nash equilibrium is shown to trigger a cyclic choice and to invite a rationality gap. It is shown that choosing the Nash equilibrium of CP conforms to the principles Wolfgang Spohn and Haim Gaifman introduced to, allegedly, guarantee acyclicity but, in fact, does not prevent self-referential/cyclic choice and rationality gaps. It is shown that CP is a counter-example to Gaifman's solution of the rationality gaps problem.     

Morality and tradition in postcommunist Orthodox lands: on the universality of human rights,with special reference to Romania

Crescent in a Red Sky: the Future of Islam in the Soviet Union by Amir Taheri. London: Hutchinson and Co. Ltd., 1989. 287 pp., £18.95.

Conscience and Captivity by Janice Broun, with a chapter on Poland by Grazyna Sikorska. Washington DC: Ethics and Public Policy Centre, 1988, Paperback, 376 pp.

38. Internationaler Kongress in Königstein. Christen in Osteuropa: ‘Perestrojka’ und Religion (38th international conference in Königstein. Christians in Eastern Europe: perestroika and religion) edited by Wolfgang Grycz. Konigstein: Albertus‐Magnus‐Kolleg/Haus der Begegnung e.V., 1988. Paperback, 178 pp.

Kirche und Glaube in Rumanien (Church and Faith in Romania) Munich: Kirche in Not, 1990. 136 pp.     

Am anfang war die tat

First, the paper argues that Tarski's theory of language levels is best understood not only as a method for avoiding semantic paradoxes by rigidly restricting the expressive power of a language, but as a natural expression of an epistemological process of reflection which is more adequately understood as a process and not by its result. Second, it is argued that the apparent philosophical controversy between materialism and idealism dissolves whithin this process of reflection. If one has raised above the lowest level, one always is a materialist as well as an idealist; however, one is so in relation to different levels.

---

---

Herrn Wolfgang Spohn danke ich für eine Reihe von wichtigen Hinweisen und Anregungen zu einer früheren Fassung dieses Aufsatzes.     

Realism about laws

This paper explores the idea that laws express relationships between properties or universals as defended in Michael Tooley's recent book Causation: A Realist Approach. I suggest that the most plausible version of realism will take a different form than that advocated by Tooley. According to this alternative, laws are grounded in facts about the capacities and powers of particular systems, rather than facts about relations between universals. The notion of lawfulness is linked to the notion of invariance, rather than to the metaphysical notion of a necessary connection.     

Antecedent-Relative Comparative World Similarity

In “Backward Causation and the Stalnaker–Lewis Approach to Counterfactuals,” Analysis 62:191–7, (2002), Michael Tooley argues that if a certain kind of backward causation is possible, then a Stalnaker–Lewis comparative world similarity account of the truth conditions of counterfactuals cannot be sound. In “Tooley on Backward Causation,” Analysis 63:157–62, (2003), Paul Noordhof argues that Tooley’s example can be reconciled with a Stalnaker–Lewis account of counterfactuals if the comparative world similarity relation on which the Stalnaker–Lewis account relies is allowed to be antecedent-relative. In this paper I show that taking comparative world similarity to be antecedent-relative results in a formal semantics which is a comparative world similarity semantics in name only.     

Likelihoodism,Bayesianism, and relational confirmation

Likelihoodists and Bayesians seem to have a fundamental disagreement about the proper probabilistic explication of relational (or contrastive) conceptions of evidential support (or confirmation). In this paper, I will survey some recent arguments and results in this area, with an eye toward pinpointing the nexus of the dispute. This will lead, first, to an important shift in the way the debate has been couched, and, second, to an alternative explication of relational support, which is in some sense a “middle way” between Likelihoodism and Bayesianism. In the process, I will propose some new work for an old probability puzzle: the “Monty Hall” problem. Thanks to the participants of the Philosophy, Probability, and Modeling (PPM) Seminar at the University of Konstanz (especially Stephan Hartmann, Franz Huber, Wolfgang Spohn, and Teddy Seidenfeld), for a very fruitful discussion of an early draft of this paper in July, 2004. Since then, discussions and correspondences with Prasanta Bandyopadhyay, Luc Bovens, Alan Hájek, Jim Hawthorne, Jim Joyce, Jon Kvanvig (and other participants of his “Certain Doubts” blog, which had a thread on a previous draft of this paper), Patrick Maher, Sherri Roush, Richard Royall, Elliott Sober, Dan Steel, and an anonymous referee of Synthese has been very valuable.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy . Bernard Williams Morality and the Bomb: an ethical assessment of nuclear deterrence . David Fisher War and Justice . Robert L. Phillips Norman Sexual Desire: a philosophical investigation . Roger Scruton Moral Dilemmas in Modern Medicine . Michael Lockwood (Ed.) The End of Life . James Rachels Madness and Reason . Jennifer Radden Ethical Issues in Psychosurgery . John Kleinig Moral Issues in Mental Retardation . R. S. Laura & A. F. Ashman (Eds) Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life: a philosophical inquiry . Albert Borgmann The Creative Computer: machine intelligence and human knowledge . Donald Michie & Rory Johnston The Wayward Curriculum: a cause for parents' concern ? Dennis O'Keeffe (Ed.)     

The Hands of the Living God 1 : “Finding the Familiar in the Unfamiliar” 2

This paper represents the fruits of a long friendship and collaboration between Marion Milner and Nina Farhi. At the heart of the paper sits a famous treatment conducted by Milner over a 17-year period. The presentation of clinical material; many drawings, and the questions raised by Milner in one generation and Farhi in another gives shape to a unique and historically and theoretically meaningful document.

Farhi uses the work and her collaboration with Milner to push theory into new ground, to examine the complexity and intersubjectivity of regression and primitive states, to assess the long shadow of maternal destructiveness, and to propose her own ideas of the power of prenatal intersubjective process, the potential (ill or good) for communication before the child is born. Issues of intergenerational communication of trauma and prenatal sensitivity allow Farhi to bring a new dimension to this long-ago case.     

Reviews

Book reviews in this article: Issues in Science and Religion. By Ian G. Barbour . Of Molecules and Men. By Francis Crick . The Bridge of Life: From Matter to Spirit. Credo Perspectives. By Edmund W. Sinivott . The Phenomenon of Life: Toward a Philosophical Biology. By Hans Jonas . The Thought of Teilhard de Chardin: An Introduction. By Michael H. Murray. The Biology of Ultimate Concern. By Theodosius Dobzhansry pol. 2 in a series on “Perspectives in Humanism,” planned and edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen.)     

Book Reviews Section

Book reviewed in this article: Gold , Michael Evan . A Dialogue on Comparable Worth. Smart , Bradford D. Selection Interviewing: A Management Psychologist's Recommended Approach. Helms , Janet E. A Practitioner's Guide to The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. Edwards , John , Leek , Chris , Loveridge , Ray , Lumley , Roger , Mangan , John and Silver , Mick . Seashore , Stanley E., Lawler , Edward E., III, Mirvis , Philip H. and Cammann , Cortlandt . (Editors) Assessing Organizational Change: A Guide to Methods, Measures, and Practices. Williams , Allan P. O. (Editor) Using Personnel Research. Tichy , Noel M. Managing Strategic Change: Technical, Political and Cultural Dynamics. Dessler , Gary . Improving Productivity at Work: Motivating Today's Employees. Barra , Ralph . Putting Quality Circles to Work: A Practical Strategy for Boosting Productivity and Profits. Perkins , Dennis N. T., Nieva , Veronica F. and Lawler , Edward E., III. Managing Creation: The Challenge of Building a New Organization. Doering , Mildred , Rhodes , Susan R. and Schuster , Michael . The Aging Worker: Research and Recommendations. Copperman , Lois Farrer and Keast , Frederick D. Adjusting to an Older Work Force. Baron , Robert A. Behavior in Organizations: Understanding and Managing the Human Side of Work. Fulmer , Robert M. Practical Human Relations. (Revised Edition) Robertson , Ivan T. and Cooper , Cary L. Human Behavior in Organisations. Hellriegel , Don , Slocum , John W., Jr . and Woodman , Richard W. Organizational Behavior. (Third Edition) West , Jonathan P. Career Planning, Development, and Management: An Annotated Bibliography. De Board , Robert . Counselling People at Work. Staines , Graham L. and Pleck , Joseph H. The Impact of Work Schedules on the Family. Jacobson , Sharol F. and Mc Grath , H. Marie . (Editors) Nurses under Stress. Stuart -Kotze , Robin and Roskin , Rick . Success Guide to Managerial Achievement. Broussine , Michael and Guerrier , Yvonne . Surviving as a Middle Manager. Burley -Allen , Madelyn . Managing Assertively: How to Improve Your People Skills. Rowland , Kendrith M., Ferris , Gerald R. and Sherman , Jay L. (Eds.) Current Issues in Personnel Management. (Second Edition) Middlemist , R. Dennis , Hitt , Michael A. and Greer , Charles R. Personnel Management: Jobs, People and Logic. Steil , Lyman K., Summerfield , Joanne and de Mare , George . Listening: It Can Change Your Life.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Measures of Religiosity . Edited by Peter C. Hill and Ralph W. Hood, Jr.
Soka Gakkai in America: Accommodation and Conversion . By Phillip Hammond and David Machacek.
Starving for Salvation: The Spiritual Dimensions of Eating Problems Among American Girls and Women . By Michelle Mary Lelwica.
Religion and Popular Culture in America . Edited by Bruce David Forbes and Jeffrey H. Mahan.
The Newer Deal: Social Work and Religion in Partnership . By Ram A. Cnaan with Robert J. Wineburg and Stephanie C. Boddie.
Passionate Journeys: Why Successful Women Joined a Cult . By Marion S. Goldman.
Buddhism in America . By Richard Hughes Seager.
Towards A European Islam . By Jurgen S. Nielsen.
Life's End: Technocratic Dying in an Age of Spiritual Yearning . By David Wendell Moller.
Catholics in England 1950–2000: Historical and Sociological Perspectives . Edited by Michael P.Hornsby-Smith.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Supporting effective learning: By Eileen Carnell & Caroline Lodge Dyslexia. Theory and practice: Edited by Angela Fawcett Internet research methods: By C. Hewson, P. Yule, D. Laurent & C. Vogel Scaling procedures — Issues and applications: By Richard G. Netemeyer, William O. Bearden & Subhash Sharma Early intervention practices around the world: Edited by S.L. Odom, M.J. Hanson, J.A. Blackman & S. Kaul Perspectives on object‐centred learning in museums: Edited by Scott G. Paris Essentials of behavioural assessment: By Michael C. Ramsay, Cecil R. Reynolds & R.W. Kamphaus Reading through colour: By Arnold Wilkins     

Books received

Analytical Psychology
Main, Roderick (ed.). Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal
Robertson, Robin. Your Shadow
Schoenl, William (ed.). Major Issues in the Life and Work of C. G. Jung
Psychoanalysis
König, Karl. Self-Analysis for Analysts
Volkan, V. D. & Ast, G.. Siblings in the Unconscious and Psychopathology
Carlson, Kathie. Life's Daughter/Death's Bride
Fromm, Erika & Nash, Michael. Psychoanalysis and Hypnosis
Gedo, John E. Spleen and Nostalgia – A Life and Work in Psychoanalysis
Grubrich-Simitis, Ilse. Early Freud and Late Freud
Molino, Anthony (ed.). Freely Associated
Quinodoz, Danielle. Emotional Vertigo – Between Anxiety and Pleasure
Serrano, Miguel. C. G. Jung and Hermann Hesse – A Record of Two Friendships
Taylor, Charles H. & Finley, Patricia. Images of the Journey in Dante's Divine Comedy     

Metaphysics of causation

Conclusion The world contains not only causes and effects, but also causal relations holding between causes and effects. Because causal relations enter into the structure of the world, their presence has various modal and probabilistic consequences. Causation and necessary and sufficient conditions do often go hand in hand. Causation, however, is a robust ingredient within the world itself, whereas modalities and probabilities supervene on the nature of the world as a whole, and on the resulting relations between one possible world and others. Some modalities, therefore, are essentially causal; but causation is not essentially modal.¹⁹     

IJPR: beyond the limit and limiting the beyond

It is now almost 20 years since Janicaud’s critique of the ‘theological turn in French phenomenology’ (Janicaud 1991, 2000), with its emphasis on phenomenology and theology as two and never one. Yet since that time there been an explosion of phenomenologies which are, if not overtly, implicitly religious and phenomenology. Thus, we have phenomenologies of prayer, or love, or hope, and the possibilities of further phenomenologies. The challenge of these emerging phenomenologies is that there seems to be no noematic correlate to a noesis in intentionality. To the fore in the reconsideration of this phenomenological challenge is Jean-Luc Marion (although there are others such as Levinas, Jean-Louis Chrétien, and Michel Henry): all aspects of lived experience appear now to belong to the proper scope of phenomenology. Marion considers the relation in Husserl between intentions and intuitions which fulfil these intentions, and suggests a reversal. In Marion, although intentionality is not rejected, the phenomenological flow which the reduction brings to light is from the object as such as it gives itself in intuition, and then from intuition to intention. For Marion, phenomena are saturated—they give too much. Religion becomes a test-case for all phenomenology. This bearing, drawing mainly on The Visible and the Revealed, offers some of the key things in Marion’s phenomenology.     

Leibniz,Whitehead and the Metaphysics of Causation

Medieval Thought: The Western Intellectual Tradition from Antiquity to the Thirteenth Century by Michael Haren Second Edition. Macmillan 1992. Pp. ix + 315.

Being a Philosopher: The History of a Practice by D. W. Hamlyn London and New York: Roudedge 1992. Pp. x + 187. ISBN 0–415–02968–6.

A History of Western Philosophy Vol. 3, Renaissance Philosophy by Brian B. Copenhaver and Charles B. Schmitt Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. 450. Hb £30.00. Pb £8.99.

La Scepsi moderna. Interpretazioni dello scetticismo da Charron a Hume by Gianni Paganini Pp. 528. Cosenza: Edizioni Il Busento 1991. L 60,000.

A History of Modern Political Thought 185 A History of Modern Political Thought, Major Political Thinkers from Hobbes to Marx by Iain Hampsher‐Monk Oxford: Blackwell 1992 Pp. xiii + 609 Paperback, £14.99.

Malebranche and Ideas 189 Malebranche and Ideas by Steven M. Nadler New York: Oxford University Press 1992. Pp. 192. ISBN 0–19–507724–5. £35.00

Kantian Aesthetics Pursued by Anthony Savile Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, 1993, ISBN 0–7486–0439–1

Philosophy and Logic in Central Europe from Bolzano to Tarski by Peter Simons Kluwer 1992