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Meso-level Objects, Powers, and Simultaneous Causation

  • Tobias Hansson Wahlberg EMAIL logo
From the journal Metaphysica

Abstract

I argue that Mumford and Anjum’s recent theory of simultaneous causation among powerful meso-level objects is problematic in several respects: it is based on a false dichotomy, it is incompatible with standard meso-level physics, it is explanatory deficient, and it threatens to render the powers metaphysics incoherent. Powers theorists are advised, therefore, to adopt a purely sequential conception of causation.

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to two anonymous reviewers for Metaphysica for their helpful comments and constructive criticisms. An early draft of the paper was presented at the Higher Seminar in Theoretical Philosophy at Lund University, May 2016 – thanks to the participants for valuable feedback. The writing of the paper was funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, grant number P15-0744:1.

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Published Online: 2017-3-22
Published in Print: 2017-4-1

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