Dependencies, Connections, and Other Relations: A Theory of Mental Causation [Hardcover]

This work covers, in its subsequent parts, ontology, the metaphysics of causation, and the philosophy of mind. It provides a firm theoretical basis for believing that in our all-physical world mental causation is perfectly real, and that it can be understood.

The text before you is a study ofthe problematic issue ofmental causation: causation by minds. On hearing the expression 'mental causation,' you may at first think ofsomething like bending spoons by 'psychic' powers. But no, we are dealing here with something much more puzzling: doing things for reasons, i. e. , what we call agency. Psychic spoon-bending would be a fairly straightforward issue. You just exert some psychic force and bend a spoon, just like you might bend it by hand, i. e. , by physical force. The only trouble here is that psychic forces may not be in fact available '. But now you fetch an umbrella because you expect that it will rain. How does that work? Some? how, it seems, you let an expectation move your limbs. But aren't your limbs already moved by nerve impulses and muscle contractions? And are expecta? tions the proper kind ofitems to move things around? Mental causation is an issue that is at the heart ofthe mind-body problem, the problem of making it clear how minded creatures such as we are possi? ble, and what our mindedness consists in. Unlike psychic spoon-bending, mental causation happens every day. At least, pretty much of what we take for granted about ourselves can only be right when mental causation really happens.Preface. Introduction: I. A brief history. II. The five problems of mental causation. III. A look forward. I: Ontology. 1. Particulars, properties and relations. 2. Physicalism. 3. A layered world. II: Causality. 4. A duality in the concept of causality. 5. Causal dependence. 6. Causal connection. 7. Unifying dependence and connection. 8. Causation and natural law. 9. The problem of causal relata. 10. Getting events wrong. 11. Getting events right. 12l³