Mary Shepherd on Causal Necessity

Metaphysica 17 (1):87-108 (2016)
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Abstract

Lady Mary Shepherd’s critique of Hume’s account of causation, his worries about knowledge of matters of fact, and the contention that it is possible for the course of nature to spontaneously change relies primarily on three premises, two of which – that objects are merely bundles of qualities and that the qualities of an object are individuated by the causal powers contributed by those qualities – anticipate contemporary metaphysical views in ways that she should be getting credit for. The remaining premise – that it is impossible for an object to begin to exist uncaused – seems more old fashioned. I argue that Shepherd can do without her old-fashioned premise and that she provides the materials for arguing that her remaining premises demonstrate a stronger anti-Humeanism than is maintained even by the contemporary representatives of those views, even though she may have to concede more to Humeanism than she would like.

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Jeremy Fantl
University of Calgary

Citations of this work

Is Shepherd a Bundle Theorist?David Landy - 2023 - Journal of Scottish Philosophy 21 (3):229-253.
How good was Shepherd’s response to Hume’s epistemological challenge?Travis Tanner - 2022 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 30 (1):71-89.
Shepherd on Meaning, Reference, and Perception.David Landy - 2022 - Journal of Modern Philosophy 4 (1):12.

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References found in this work

From an Ontological Point of View.John Heil - 2003 - Philosophy 79 (309):491-494.
Scientific Essentialism.Lenny Clapp - 2002 - Philosophical Review 111 (4):589-594.
The Metaphysic of Abstract Particulars.Keith Campbell - 1981 - Midwest Studies in Philosophy 6 (1):477-488.

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