Price, Huw (2013) Where would we be without counterfactuals? [Preprint]

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Abstract

Bertrand Russell’s celebrated essay “On the Notion of Cause” was first delivered to the Aristotelian Society on 4 November 1912, as Russell’s Presidential Address. The piece is best known for a passage in which its author deftly positions himself between the traditional metaphysics of causation and the British crown, firing broadsides in both directions: “The law of causality”, Russell declares, “Like much that passes muster in philosophy, is a relic of a bygone age, surviving, like the monarchy, only because it is erroneously supposed to do no harm.” To mark the lecture’s centenary, I offer a contemporary view of the issues Russell here puts on the table, and of the health or otherwise, at the end of the essay’s first century, of his notorious conclusion.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Price, Huw hp331@cam.ac.uk
Keywords:	Russell, Cause, Causation, Monarchy, Republicanism, Ramsey
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation General Issues > Decision Theory
Depositing User:	Prof Huw Price
Date Deposited:	07 Oct 2013 12:49
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2013 12:49
Item ID:	10040
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation General Issues > Decision Theory
Date:	September 2013
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10040

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