Efficient Causation

Causation is now commonly supposed to involve a succession that instantiates some law-like regularity. Efficient Causation: A History examines how our modern notion developed from a very different understanding of efficient causation. This volume begins with Aristotle's initial conception of efficient causation, and then considers the transformations and reconsiderations of this conception in late antiquity, medieval and modern philosophy, ending with contemporary accounts of causation. It includes four short "Reflections" that explore the significance of the concept for literature, the history of music, the history of science, and contemporary art theory.Introduction ; Tad M. Schmaltz ; Part I Ancient and Medieval ; 1. Aristotle and the Discovery of Efficient Causation, Thomas M. Tuozzo ; Reflection: Representations of Efficient Causation in the Iliad, Tobias Myers ; 2. Efficient Causation in the Stoic Tradition, R. J. Hankinson ; 3. Efficient Causation in Late Antiquity and the Earlier Medieval Era, Ian Wilks ; 4. Efficient Causation: From Ibn Sina to Ockham, Kara Richardson ; Reflection: Efficient Causation and Musical Inspiration, Anna Harwell Celenza ; Part II Modern ; 5. Efficient Causation: From Suarez to Descartes, Tad M. Schmaltz ; 6. Efficient Causation in Spinoza and Leibniz, Martin Lin ; Reflection: Reason, Calculating Machines and Efficient Causation, Matthew L. Jones ; 7. Efficient Causation in Malebranche and Berkeley, Lisa Downing ; 8. Efficient Causation in Hume, P. J. E. Kail ; 9. Efficient Causation in Kant, Eric Watkins ; Part III Contemporary ; 10. Contemporary Efficient Causation: Humean Themes, Douglas Ehring ; Reflection:Efficient Causation in Art, Tina Rivers ; 11. Contemporary Efficient Causation: Aristotelian Themes, Stephen Mumford ; Bibliography ; Pre-20th-Century Sources ; 20th- and 21st-Century Literature ; Index