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1、xCAUSATION:REDUCTIONISMVERSUSREALISM*MICHAELTOOLEYAnyadequateapproachtocausationmustprovideaccountsofcausallaws,andofcausalrelationsbetweenstatesofaffairs,orevents,and,ineachcase,oneisconfrontedwiththechoicebetweenreductionismandrealism.Withrespecttocausa
2、llaws,therelevantissueconcernstherelationbetweencausallawsandthetotalityofevents.Accordingtoreductionism,causallawsaresupervenientuponthetotalhistoryoftheworld.Accordingtorealism,theyarenot.Withrespecttocausalrelations,thecentralissueiswhethercausalrelati
3、onsbetweeneventsarereducibletootherstatesofaffairs,includingthenon-causalpropertiesof,andrelationsbetween,events.Thereductionistholdsthattheyare;therealistthattheyarenot.Thesechoicesbetweenreductionistandnon-reductionistapproachestocausallawsandcausalrela
4、tionsaresurelyamongthemostfundamentalinthephilosophyofcausation.Butinspiteofthatfact,the'yhavereceivedverylittlediscussion.For,althoughtherehavebeenexceptions,thehistoryofthephilosophyofcausationsincethetimeofHumehasbeenlargelythehistoryofattemptstoofferr
5、eductionistaccountsofcausallawsandofcausalrela•tions,andmostphilosophershavebeencontentsimplytoassumethatareductionistapproachtocausationmustbecorrect.Inthispaper,Ishallarguethatreductionistaccountsofcausationareexposedtodecisiveobjections,andthatthetimeh
6、ascometoexplorerealistalternatives.1.REDUCTIONISTANDREALISTALTERNATIVES1.1CausationandLogicalSupervenienceSomerecentdiscussionsofcausationhavebeenconcernedwiththequestionofwhatcausationisinthisworld,andithasbeenproposed,forexample,*IamindebtedtoDavidArmst
7、rongfordetailedandveryhelpfulcommentsonanearlierdraft.CAUSATION:REDUCTIONISMV.REALISM173thatcausationinthisworldcanbeidentifiedwiththetransferenceofenergyand/ormomentum.ISuchcontingentidentitythesesconcerningthenatureofcausationclearlyconstituteonesortofr
8、eductionism.Itisnot,however,thesortthatIshallbeconcernedwithhere.ForIshallbefocusing,instead,uponquestionssuchaswhethercausallawsarereducible,asamatteroflogicalnecessity,tofactsaboutthetotalhistoryoftheworld,and,sim
