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Are Actual Difference Making Causes the Causes that Really Matter?| old_uid | 8150 |
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| title | Are Actual Difference Making Causes the Causes that Really Matter? |
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| start_date | 2010/02/12 |
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| schedule | 14h-15h30 |
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| online | no |
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| summary | In situations involving a multiplicity of causes, scientific investigations typically focus on some causes, and not others. On what basis are selections made? Scientists often select the subset of causes that are actually making the difference in the populations under investigation. Sometimes these “actual difference makers” are selected because they are the subset of causes scientists find interesting, sometimes because they are the subset that are most readily identifiable, and sometimes because they are the subset most useful to scientists (and often for a combination of these reasons). Perhaps, however, the causes most interesting, identifiable, or useful to scientists are not the ones that matter most (i.e. matter most outside the context of science). I will compare and contrast causal investigation in genetics, on the one hand, and causal investigation in behavioral genetics on the other, to argue that investigations that do not manipulate causes can identify only the actual difference making causes, and consequently may well miss the causes that matter. |
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| responsibles | Nicoglou, Viciana |
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