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Abstract

This paper is based on the assumption that the most plausible meta­physics behind the scientific image of the world is causal realism. A theory of causality is defended within the framework of the new mechanical philosophy, and therefore, in terms of mechanisms.

This theory is substantiated on properties, dis­positions and powers. In sum, the paper aims to show that causality operates through mechanisms formed by entities whose properties have the power or dis­position to affect other properties (through interactions), thereby producing certain effects; and this is what causation means. The analysis is situated within new dispositionalism, but shies away from new essentialism, showing that a causal ontology of properties (causal powers) can be sustained without recourse to essentialism.

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Source: Agazzi E. (ed.). Varieties of Scientific Realism: Objectivity and Truth in Science. Springer,2017. — 411 pp.. 2017

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