Overview
- One of the first books to examine the relationships between philosophy, biology and economics
- Offers a comprehensive review of causal and mechanistic issues in biology and economics
- Discusses the philosophical investigation of conjoining biological and economic analyses with demography, medicine and sociology
Part of the book series: History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences (HPTL, volume 3)
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Defining Mechanism and Causality
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Front Matter
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Reconsidering Biological Mechanisms and Causality
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Front Matter
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Across Boundaries Between Biology and Economics
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
- Causal issues in the theory of natural selection
- Causal models
- Causal structure
- Connections between causation and mechanisms
- Economic mechanisms
- Mechanisms of genetics and biomedicine
- Methodological turn in the philosophy of science
- Modeling mechanisms
- biology and economy
- causality
- mechanism
- philosophy of biology
- philosophy of economy
About this book
This volume addresses fundamental issues in the philosophy of science in the context of two most intriguing fields: biology and economics. Written by authorities and experts in the philosophy of biology and economics, Mechanism and Causality in Biology and Economics provides a structured study of the concepts of mechanism and causality in these disciplines and draws careful juxtapositions between philosophical apparatus and scientific practice. By exploring the issues that are most salient to the contemporary philosophies of biology and economics and by presenting comparative analyses, the book serves as a platform not only for gaining mutual understanding between scientists and philosophers of the life sciences and those of the social sciences, but also for sharing interdisciplinary research that combines both philosophical concepts in both fields.
The book begins by defining the concepts of mechanism and causality in biology and economics, respectively. The second and third parts investigate philosophical perspectives of various causal and mechanistic issues in scientific practice in the two fields. These two sections include chapters on causal issues in the theory of evolution; experiments and scientific discovery; representation of causal relations and mechanism by models in economics. The concluding section presents interdisciplinary studies of various topics concerning extrapolation of life sciences and social sciences, including chapters on the philosophical investigation of conjoining biological and economic analyses with, respectively, demography, medicine and sociology.
Reviews
From the reviews:
“Essays provides both a critical reappraisal of how far we’ve come, and an insight into future lines of inquiry. … to those with interests in general philosophy of science, and those with interests in interdisciplinary links among the special sciences. … I can strongly recommend it. Each of these papers is self-contained, but together they constitute intriguingly contrasting treatments of a variety of issues to do with causation, explanation, and the roles of mechanistic understanding in economics and biology.” (Anya Plutynski, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, Vol. 3 (23), 2013)
Editors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Mechanism and Causality in Biology and Economics
Editors: Hsiang-Ke Chao, Szu-Ting Chen, Roberta L. Millstein
Series Title: History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2454-9
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Hardcover ISBN: 978-94-007-2453-2Published: 13 August 2013
Softcover ISBN: 978-94-007-9348-4Published: 21 August 2015
eBook ISBN: 978-94-007-2454-9Published: 31 July 2013
Series ISSN: 2211-1948
Series E-ISSN: 2211-1956
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 256
Topics: Philosophy of Biology, History of Economic Thought/Methodology, Evolutionary Biology