Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives on Downward Causation

This volume brings together experts from different fields-including William Bechtel, Stewart Clark, Tom Lancaster, Carl Gillett, John Heil, Robin F. Hendry, Max Kistler -who delve into classic and unexplored lines of philosophical inquiry related to downward causation. It critically assesses the possibility of downward causation given different ontological assumptions and explores the connection between downward causation and the metaphysics of causation and dispositions. Finally, it presents different cases of downward causation in empirical fields such as physics, chemistry, biology and the neurosciences.