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Causality and Explanation
Wesley C. SalmonUniversity Professor of Philosophy, University of PittsburghBrings together 26 of Salmon's essays, including 7 that have never before been published and others that are difficult to find. Part I(Introductory Essays: Causality, Determinism, and Explanation)comprises five essays that presuppose no formal training inphilosophy of science and form a background for subsequent essays.Parts II (Scientific Explanation) and III (Causality) contain Salmon'sseminal work on these topics. The essays in Part II present aspects of the evolution of the author's thought about scientific explanation, andinclude critical examination of the claim that explanations arearguments and a carefully reasoned defense of explanatory asymmetry. Those in Part III develop the details of the theory sketched in Ch. 1. This theory identifies causal connections withphysical processes that transmit causal influence from one space-timelocation to another, and it incorporates probabilistic features of causality, keeping open the possibility that causality operates inindeterministic contexts. Part IV (Concise Overviews) offers survey articles that discuss advanced material but remain accessible to thoseoutside philosophy of science. Essays in Part V (Applications to OtherDisciplines: Archaeology and Anthropology, Astrophysics andCosmology, and Physics) address specific issues, in particular,scientific disciplines, including the applicability of various models of explanation.
Preface
Having worked actively on scientific explanation for more than thirty years, I recently discovered that it is a sexy topic. I use the term “sexy”in its nonsexual sense. What I mean is that a huge federally fundedproject involving billions of dollars was defended on philosophicalgrounds, namely, that by aiding scientists in explaining naturalphenomena, it would lead to deeper understanding of our universe.
In 1987 Nobel laureate physicist Steven Weinberg testified before theU.S. Congress regarding funding of the superconducting supercollider (SSC) on that basis. Later on (1992), while the continuation of its funding was under consideration by Congress, Weinberg publishedan important and influential book,
Dreams of a Final Theory
, in which he tried to show why the SSC would be worth the additionalinvestment. Regrettably, this project was scuttled after it wasundertaken and after enormous amounts of labor and money hadalready been expended on it. The final essay in this collection,“Dreams of a Famous Physicist: An Apology for Philosophy of Science,” offers a philosophical analysis of this challenging work. Although I thoroughly agree with Weinberg's scientific goals, I takestrong exception to his explicitly declared attitudes towardphilosophy of science. I find this treatment of scientific explanationdeeply flawed.My point of departure for this whole collection lies in the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, more specifically, in David Hume's epoch-making critique of causality. In the last decade of the twentiethcentury, we have, I believe, taken significant steps toward an actualsolution of the fundamental problems he posed concerning the natureof causality— i.e., toward understanding the kinds of connections thatlink causes and effects. The initial essay, “A New Look at Causality,”offers a preview of the issues developed in greater detail insubsequent essays, especially those in Part III. As I point out in theIntroduction, there is an obvious and basic relationship between theconcepts of causality and explanation. To a surprising extent, thisrelationship has been ignored, denied, or severely underrated inmuch of the twentieth-century philosophical literature on scientificexplanation.Even more surprising to the modern reader, I imagine, is the fact thatthe very existence or possibility of scientific explanation was denied by many outstanding philosophers and scientists at the beginning of the twentieth century. Today it is widely agreed that one of the chief aims of scientific endeavor— if not
the
principal goal— is to facilitateour understanding of the universe in which we live and of our place init. To my mind this is one of the greatest philosophical achievementsof the century. The fifth essay, “The Importance of ScientificUnderstanding,” elaborates this theme. Let us hope that the lesson isnot ignored as we face global problems in the twenty-first century.
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12 An “At-At” Theory of Causal Influence for Causality and Explanation
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