[MaFLa] invitation to Martin Schmidt`s talk at the CEU Philosophy Department - October 13, 4, 30 PM

[Krisztina Biber]

The CEU Philosophy Department cordially invites you to a talk (as part
of its Departmental Colloquium series)
by 
Martin Schmidt  (Matej Bel University)
on
Esfeld's account of structural realism and causation 

Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 4.30 PM, Zrinyi 14, Room 412 

ABSTRACT
One of the arguments against ontic structural realism (OSR) is that it
can’t explain causation. The critics claim that causation is rooted in
objects but an appeal to objects is inconsistent with a structuralist
position.  In his recent defense of OSR, M. Esfeld puts forward a
proposal according to which causal powers are built directly into
relations and, therefore, promises us to shed a structuralist light on
causality. However, Esfeld combines causal view of relations with his
moderate version of OSR that, in order to avoid some conceptual
difficulties, contains a structural view of objects. The aim is to
demonstrate that this account faces a dilemma and that an attempt to
resolve it reveals further difficulties that question a position of
moderate OSR as a real alternative to, for instance, radical OSR or the
bundle theory.



Kriszta Biber
Department Coordinator
Philosophy Department
Tel: 36-1-327-3806
Fax: 36-1-327-3072
E-mail: biberk at ceu.hu
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