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Is There an Independent Principle of Causality in Physics? A Comment on Matthias Frisch, “Causal Reasoning in Physics.”

Norton, John D (2008) Is There an Independent Principle of Causality in Physics? A Comment on Matthias Frisch, “Causal Reasoning in Physics.”. In: [2008] Causation Workshop, 26 January 2008 - 26 January 2008, Pittsburgh, PA. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Matthias Frisch has argued that the requirement that electromagnetic dispersion processes are causal adds empirical content not found in electrodynamic theory. I urge that this attempt to reconstitute a local principle of causality in physics fails. An independent principle is not needed to recover the results of dispersion theory. The use of “causality conditions” prove to be either an exercise in relabeling an already presumed fact; or, if one seeks a broader, independently formulated grounding for the conditions, that grounding either fails or dissolves into vagueness and ambiguity, as has traditionally been the fate of candidate principles of causality.


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Details

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Norton, John Djdnorton@pitt.eduJDNORTON
Date: 26 January 2008
Date Type: Publication
Event Title: [2008] Causation Workshop
Event Dates: 26 January 2008 - 26 January 2008
Event Type: Conference
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > History and Philosophy of Science
Refereed: No
Uncontrolled Keywords: causality, causation, dispersion, scattering
Official URL: http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00003832/
Date Deposited: 21 May 2009 20:54
Last Modified: 31 Jul 2020 18:55
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/2665

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