Bücher von Andreas Huttemann

Werbetext: Nehmen wir an menschliches Verhalten falle unter Naturgesetze. Diese sind entweder deterministisch oder indeterministisch. In beiden Fällen, so der erste Eindruck, ist unser Verhalten entschuldigt. Denn es scheint so, als könnten wir uns im Falle deterministischer Gesetze nicht anders verhalten, als wir uns tatsächlich verhalten. Im Falle indeterministischer Gesetze scheint es so, als seien nicht wir selbst Urheber dieses Verhaltens, weil es vom Zufall abhängt, wie wir uns verhalten. Es gibt eine Spannung zwischen der naturwissenschaftlichen Charakterisierung der Welt einerseits und der Charakterisierung von Menschen, die für ihr Verhalten verantwortlich sind, andererseits. Andreas Hüttemann untersucht, wie die Beantwortung der Frage, ob Menschen für ihr Verhalten verantwortlich sind, davon abhängt, was unter Determinismus, Kausalität, Naturgesetz und (vielleicht etwas überraschender) Reduktion verstanden wird.Let us assume that human behavior is subject to natural laws. These are either deterministic or indeterministic. In both cases, the first impression is that our behavior is excused. For it seems as if, in the case of deterministic laws, we cannot behave differently than we actually do. In the case of indeterministic laws, it seems as if we ourselves are not the originators of this behavior, because how we behave depends on chance. There is a tension between the scientific characterization of the world on the one hand and the characterization of people who are responsible for their behaviour on the other. Andreas Hüttemann examines how the answer to the question of whether people are responsible for their behavior depends on what is meant by determinism, causality, natural law and (perhaps somewhat surprisingly) reduction.

What are the metaphysical commitments which best 'make sense' of our scientific practice (rather than our scientific theories)? In this book, Andreas Huttemann provides a minimal metaphysics for scientific practice, i.e. a metaphysics that refrains from postulating any structure that is explanatorily irrelevant. Huttemann closely analyses paradigmatic aspects of scientific practice, such as prediction, explanation and manipulation, to consider the questions whether and (if so) what metaphysical presuppositions best account for these practices. He looks at the role which scientific generalisation (laws of nature) play in predicting, testing, and explaining the behaviour of systems. He also develops a theory of causation in terms of quasi-inertial processes and interfering factors, and he proposes an account of reductive practices that makes minimal metaphysical assumptions. His book will be valuable for scholars and advanced students working in both philosophy of science and metaphysics.

'Microphysicalism', the view that whole objects behave the way they do in virtue of the behaviour of their constituent parts, is an influential contemporary view with a long philosophical and scientific heritage. In "What's Wrong With Microphysicalism?", Andreas Huttemann offers a fresh challenge to this view.