Peter Menzies
(1953 - 2015)

  •  288
    The Oxford Handbook of Causation (edited book)
    Oxford University Press UK. 2009.
    Causation is a central topic in many areas of philosophy. In metaphysics, philosophers want to know what causation is, and how it is related to laws of nature, probability, action, and freedom of the will. In epistemology, philosophers investigate how causal claims can be inferred from statistical data, and how causation is related to perception, knowledge and explanation. In the philosophy of mind, philosophers want to know whether and how the mind can be said to have causal efficacy, and in et…Read more
  •  1871
    Nonreductive physicalism and the limits of the exclusion principle
    Journal of Philosophy 106 (9): 475-502. 2009.
    It is often argued that higher-level special-science properties cannot be causally efficacious since the lower-level physical properties on which they supervene are doing all the causal work. This claim is usually derived from an exclusion principle stating that if a higher-level property F supervenes on a physical property F* that is causally sufficient for a property G, then F cannot cause G. We employ an account of causation as difference-making to show that the truth or falsity of this princ…Read more
  •  646
    Causation as a secondary quality
    with Huw Price
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 44 (2): 187-203. 1993.
    In this paper we defend the view that the ordinary notions of cause and effect have a direct and essential connection with our ability to intervene in the world as agents.1 This is a well known but rather unpopular philosophical approach to causation, often called the manipulability theory. In the interests of brevity and accuracy, we prefer to call it the agency theory.2 Thus the central thesis of an agency account of causation is something like this: an event A is a cause of a distinct event B…Read more
  •  353
    The Two Envelope 'Paradox'
    Analysis 54 (1). 1994.
    This paper discusses the finite version of the two envelope paradox. (That is, we treat the paradox against the background assumption that there is only a finite amount of money in the world.)
  •  80
    Causing Actions (review)
    Mind and Language 18 (4): 440-446. 2003.
    Paul Pietroski presents an original philosophical theory of actions and their mental causes. We often act for reasons, deliberating and choosing among options, based on our beliefs and desires. But because bodily motions always have biochemical causes, it can seem that thinking and acting are biochemical processes. Pietroski argues that thoughts and deeds are in fact distinct from, though dependent on, underlying biochemical processes within persons
  •  20
    A Combinatorial Theory of Possibility, by D. M. Armstrong (review)
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 52 (3): 731-734. 1992.
  •  154
    An objectivist's guide to subjective value
    Ethics 102 (3): 512-533. 1992.
  •  2
    CHAPTER ONE This thesis is a critical analysis of arguments which Michael Dummett has developed against realism. Dummett characterizes realism as the thesis that the meaning of sentences should be analyzed in terms of the notions oftruth and falsity which obey the classical principle of bivalence. Before examining Dummett's arguments against realism, I consider the two models Dummett proposes for analyzing the content of assertions and examine his thesis that the realist notion of truth is induc…Read more
  •  72
    Non-reductive physicalism is the view that mental events cause other events in virtue of their mental properties and that mental properties supervene on, without being identical to, physical properties. Jaegwon Kim has presented several much-discussed arguments against this view. But the much simpler causal closure argument, which purports to establish that every mental property is identical to a physical property, has received less attention than Kim’s arguments. This paper aims to show how a n…Read more
  •  12
    Found: the missing explanation
    with Alonso Church
    Analysis 53 (2): 100. 1993.
  •  13
    In defence of fictionalism about possible worlds
    with Alonso Church
    Analysis 54 (1): 27-36. 1994.
  • Newcomb Decision Problems and Causal Decision Theory
    Dissertation, Stanford University. 1984.
    Newcomb's problem, first presented by Robert Nozick in 1969, has aroused much interest among philosophers because it appears to involve a conflict between two intuitively attractive principles of decision: the Principle of Dominance and the decision-rule of Richard Jeffrey's decision theory, the Principle of Maximizing Conditional Expected Utility. I believe that the Principle of Dominance makes the rational prescription in Newcomb's problem and, consequently, that the problem constitutes a coun…Read more
  •  17
    Dependence in Causal Judgements
    In Christoph Hoerl, Teresa McCormack & Sarah R. Beck (eds.), Understanding Counterfactuals, Understanding Causation, Oxford University Press. pp. 186. 2011.
  •  26
    Current Issues in Causation
    Australasian Journal of Philosophy 81 (2): 302-302. 2003.
    Book Information Current Issues in Causation. Current Issues in Causation Wolfgang Spohn Marion Ledwig Michael Esfeld Paderborn Mentis 2001 207 Paperback DM 78 Edited by Wolfgang Spohn; Marion Ledwig; Michael Esfeld. Mentis. Paderborn. Pp. 207. Paperback:DM 78
  •  33
    14 page
  •  38
    A Combinatorial Theory of Possibility, by D. M. Armstrong (review)
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 52 (3): 731-734. 1992.
  •  1
    How justified are the humean doubts about intrinsic causal links?
    Communication and Cognition. Monographies 31 (4): 339-364. 1998.
  •  142
    The causal efficacy of mental states
    In Sven Walter & Heinz-Dieter Heckmann (eds.), Physicalism and Mental Causation: The Metaphysics of Mind and Action, Imprint Academic. pp. 195--223. 2003.
    You are asked to call out the letters on a chart during an eyeexamination: you see and then read out the letters ‘U’, ‘R’, and ‘X’. Commonsense says that your perceptual experiences causally control your calling out the letters. Or suppose you are playing a game of chess intent on winning: you plan your strategy and move your chess pieces accordingly. Again, commonsense says that your intentions and plans causally control your moving the chess pieces. These causal judgements are as plain and evi…Read more
  •  18
    Book reviews (review)
    Mind 103 (410): 216-219. 1994.
  •  66
    Platitudes and counterexamples
    In Helen Beebee, Peter Menzies & Christopher Hitchcock (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Causation, Oxford University Press. pp. 341--367. 2009.
    27 page
  •  1410
    Abductive inference and delusional belief
    with Max Coltheart and John Sutton
    Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 15 (1): 261-287. 2010.
    Delusional beliefs have sometimes been considered as rational inferences from abnormal experiences. We explore this idea in more detail, making the following points. Firstly, the abnormalities of cognition which initially prompt the entertaining of a delusional belief are not always conscious and since we prefer to restrict the term “experience” to consciousness we refer to “abnormal data” rather than “abnormal experience”. Secondly, we argue that in relation to many delusions (we consider eight…Read more