Foundations of Science reading: Woodward

Our reading group in general philosophy of science anticipates meeting weekly for the near future. Over the next couple weeks, we will be looking at Jim Woodward's manipulationist theory of causal explanation in his book Making Things Happen. We will focus this time on Chapter 2, "Causation and Manipulation." This chapter lays out an account of causation which is developed into an account of causal explanation in later chapters we anticipate reading. Various brief motivating arguments are developed in the introductory Chapter 1, and they may be worth a skim.

We will meet the first time at 4PM on Thursday April 30 at the Centre for Foundations of Science, N293 on the first floor of the Main Quad building.

Email me (Chris) if you need a copy of Chapters 1 and 2. An electronic version of the text is available on the Sydney Uni library site, though the interface strikes me as suitable for searching but designed to frustrate rather than facilitate actual reading.

Citation: J. Woodward. Making Things Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation. Oxford University Press, New York, 2003