Causation: The Basics explores questions about what causes are, and how we come to know them, describe them, and put them to use. The book begins with an introduction to the history of philosophical thinking about causation, followed by a series of chapters introducing important contemporary accounts of causation. It concludes with chapters on causation and agency, causal discovery, and causal explanation. Key questions explored in the book include:What distinguishes...

The New Mechanical Philosophy argues for a new image of nature and of science--one that understands both natural and social phenomena to be the product of mechanisms, and that casts the work of science as an effort to discover and understand those mechanisms. Drawing on an expanding literature on mechanisms in physical, life, and social sciences, Stuart Glennan offers an account of the nature of mechanisms and of the models used to represent them. A key quality of mechanisms is th...

La evaluación de impacto es un tipo de estudio que permite identificar si las políticas, los programas o proyectos causaron un efecto positivo sobre la población que los recibió. Si partimos de la premisa de que las políticas públicas son instrumentales —medios para alcanzar un fin—, la evaluación de impacto es, en muchos sentidos, su prueba de fuego. Por abocarse a la realización de inferencias causales, la evaluación de impacto se considera la joya de la corona de la investigación aplica...

Scientists studying the burning of stars, the evolution of species, DNA, the brain, the economy, and social change, all frequently describe their work as searching for mechanisms. Despite this fact, for much of the twentieth century philosophical discussions of the nature of mechanisms remained outside philosophy of science.The Routledge Handbook of Mechanisms and Mechanical Philosophy is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems, and debates in this exciting subj...