Causation and Modern Philosophy [Paperback]

This volume brings together a collection of new essays by leading scholars on the subject of causation in the early modern period, from Descartes to Lady Mary Shepherd. Aimed at researchers, graduate students and advanced undergraduates, the volume advances the understanding of early modern discussions of causation, and situates these discussions in the wider context of early modern philosophy and science. Specifically, the volume contains essays on key early modern thinkers, such as Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, Kant. It also contains essays that examine the important contributions to the causation debate of less widely discussed figures, including Louis la Forge, Thomas Brown and Lady Mary Shepherd.

Selected Contents:  Introduction, Keith Allen and Tom Stoneham  1: Galileo: Reflections on Failure, David Wootton  2: Primary and Secondary Causes In Descartess Physics, Tad M. Schmaltz  3: Causation and the Cartesian Reduction of Motion: Gods Role in Grinding the Gears, William Eaton and Robert Higgerson  4: Spinozas Conatus as an Essence Preserving, Attribute-Neutral Immanent Cause: Toward a New Interpretation of Attributes and Modes, Eric Schliesser  5: Are Mind-Body Relations Natural And Intelligible? Some Early Modern Perspectives, Pauline Phemister  6: Hobbess Redefinition Of The Commonwealth, Timothy Stanton  7: Hume, Causal Realism, and Free Will, Peter Millican  8: Pouring New Wine into Old Skin: The Meaning of Humes Necessary Connexions, Constantine Sandis  9: Is Causation a Relation? Boris Hennig  10: Kant on Causal Knowledge: Causality, Mechanism and Reflective Judgment, Angela Breitenbach  11: Regularities All The Way Dolƒ‚