Seifert, Vanessa A. (2025) Chemical causal relations across different levels of description. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Two forms of chemical reaction statements are standardly found in the chemical corpus. First, individual reactions statements describe reactions that occur between specific chemical substances, leading to the production of specific substances. Secondly, general reactions statements describe chemical transformations between groups of substances. Both forms of statements track regularities in nature and are thus warranted to be viewed as representing causal relations. However, a convincing analysis in terms of causation also requires spelling out the metaphysical relation between individual and general reactions. This is because their relation prompts concerns regarding causal priority and causal overdetermination. I present these concerns and address them by arguing that we should view individual and general reactions in the context of the determinate/determinable distinction.
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Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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Additional Information: | This is a preprint of the chapter to be published in Laws and powers in the Metaphysics of Science. Ioannidis, S., Psillos, S. & Seifert V.A. (eds.) Routledge | ||||||
Subjects: | General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Causation General Issues > Natural Kinds |
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Depositing User: | Dr. Vanessa A. Seifert | ||||||
Date Deposited: | 04 Jun 2025 13:05 | ||||||
Last Modified: | 04 Jun 2025 13:05 | ||||||
Item ID: | 25554 | ||||||
Subjects: | General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Causation General Issues > Natural Kinds |
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Date: | 2025 | ||||||
URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/25554 |
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