Abstract
In this paper I criticize the commonly accepted idea that the generalizations of the special sciences should be construed as ceteris paribus laws. This idea rests on mistaken assumptions about the role of laws in explanation and their relation to causal claims. Moreover, the major proposals in the literature for the analysis of ceteris paribus laws are, on their own terms, complete failures. I sketch a more adequate alternative account of the content of causal generalizations in the special sciences which I argue should replace the ceteris paribus conception.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Cartwright, N.: 1983, How the Laws of Physics Lie, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Cook, T. and D. Campbell: 1979, Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings, Houghton Miflin, Boston.
Earman, J. and J. Roberts: 1999, ‘Ceteris Paribus, There Is Problem of Provisos’ Synthese 118, 439–478.
Earman, J., J. Roberts, and S, Smith: This volume, ‘Ceteris Paribus Lost’ Erkenntnis 57, 281–301.
Fodor, J.: 1991, ‘You Can Fool Some of the People All of the Time, Everything Else Being Equal; Hedged Laws and Pscychological Explanation’ Mind 100, 19–34.
Glymour, C.: This volume, ‘A Semantics and Methodology for Ceteris Paribus Hypotheses’ Erkenntnis 57, 395–405.
Hausman, D.: 1992, The Inexact and Seperate Science of Economics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Mott, P.: 1992, ‘Fodor and Ceteris Ceteris Paribus’ Mind 101, 3350-346.
Pietroski, P. and G. Rey: 1995, ‘When Other Things Aren't Equal: Saving Ceteris Paribus Laws from Vacuity’ The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 46, 81–110.
Reddy, A., A. Janss, P. Philips, H. Weiss, and R. Packer: 2000, ‘Outcome for Children with Supratentorial Neuroectodermal Tumors Treated with Surgery, Radiation, and Chemotherapy’ Cancer 88(9), 2189–2193.
Schurz, G.: 2001, ‘Pietroski and Rey on Ceteris Paribus Laws’ The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 52, 359–370.
Snow, J.: 1855, On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, John Churchill, London.
Stafford, F.: 1985, ‘Income Maintenance Policy and Work Effort: Learning from Experiments and Labor Market Studies’ in J. Hausman and D. Wise (eds), Social Experimentation, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
van Fraassen, B. C.: 1989, Laws and Symmetry, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Woodward, J.: 1995, ‘Causality and Explanation in Econometrics’ in Daniel Little (ed.), On the Reliability of Economic Models: Essays in the Philosophy of Economics, Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 9–61.
Woodward, J.: 2000, ‘Explanation and Invariance in the Special Sciences’ The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 2000, 197–254.
Woodward, J.: Forthcoming, Making Things Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Woodward, J. There is No Such Thing as a Ceteris Paribus Law. Erkenntnis 57, 303–328 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021578127039
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021578127039