Contact:

Zee “R.” Perry: zee (dot) perry (at) nyu (dot) edu
Cory “M.” Nichols:
corymnichols (at) gmail (dot) com
Noel “No Middle Initial” Swanson:
nwswanso (at) princeton (dot) edu

This reading group meets at the NYU Department of Philosophy (5 Washington Pl, New York, NY 10003. Map) in the 6th Floor Lounge. If you’re interested in attending, please email one of the three nerds, above.

Schedule:
[gig-cal limit=5]

First Session: Thursday June, 17th. 1:00pm.
> Russell, B. “On the Notion of Cause”
> Heathcote and Armstrong, “Causes and Law”

Second Session: Wednesday, June 23rd. 1:00pm.
> Maudlin, T. “Causation, Counterfactuals and the Third Factor”
> Hitchcock, C. “Three Concepts of Causation”

Readings: (tentative)

Background:
– Russell, B. “On the Notion of Cause”
– Frede, M. “The Original Notion of Cause” *
Meta-Theory:
– Hall, N. “Two Concepts of Causation”
– Hitchcock, C. “Three Concepts of Causation”
– Maudlin, “Causation, Counterfactuals, and the Third Factor”
– Lewis, D. “Void and Object”
Republicanism and Fundamentalism:
– Norton, J. “Causation as Folk Science,” *
– Frisch, M. “Causal Reasoning in Physics” *
– Elga, A. “Isolation and Folk Physics”
– Butterfield, J. “Reconsidering Relativistic Causality”
– Other essays from Causation, Physics, and the Constitution of Reality: Russell’s Republic Revisited
– Woodward, J. Making Things Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation
Structural Analysis:
– Hall, N. “Structural Equations and Causation” *
– Hitchcock, C. “Structural Equations and Causation: Six Counterexamples” *
– Glymour, Clark – TBD
Transference Theories
– Heathcote, A. “A Theory of Causality: Causality = Interaction (as defined by a suitable
QFT)” *
– Dieks, “A Note on Causation and the Flow of Energy,” “Physics and the Direction of
Causation” *
– Aronson, J. “Untangling Ontology from Epistemology in Causation”

Strevens, M. “Physically Contingent Laws and Counterfactual Support”, /Philosopher’s Imprint/ 8(8), 2008
Ney, A. “Physical Causation and Difference Making”
Cartwright, N. “Causal Laws and Effective Strategies” (A reading list doesn’t feel complete without something crazy by Nancy Cartwright somewhere in it)
Heathcote and Armstrong, “Causes and Law”
Ducasse, C.J. “On the Nature and the Observability of the Causal Relation” (From the 30s or some shit. old people: EWW)