Lecture 8: Social Structural Explanation (causal account)

Question 1

Haslanger’s social structure explanation

Answer 1

~ well understood in terms of part-whole (individuals = parts, structure = whole)
~ constraints (wholes constrain their parts)

Question 2

Causal account of social structural explanation

Answer 2

Take constraints and think of them in terms of interventionist account

Question 3

What is structure?

Answer 3

“Vague, mysterious”, explanatory influence is unclear
~ macro-scale variable,hard to see

Question 4

Individualistic stories

Answer 4

Think of Tilly’s standard stories
~ comfortable for us to tell stories with actors and characters that have control over what happens
~ structure is easy to ignore, so we default to the individual

Question 5

Dog treat in the ball

Answer 5

Example of Haslanger’s account
~ shows that you have to appeal to the whole ball in order to explain the trajectory the treat took

Question 6

Nodes

Answer 6

Positions individuals can occupy

Question 7

Edges

Answer 7

Social practices

Question 8

Causal approach

Answer 8

The explanans is thought of in terms of causes

Question 9

Why use Woodward’s interventionist account?

Answer 9

~ clarifies causal influence structure (changing resources provides causal control over outcomes)
~ captures causal reasoning and demystifies
~ connected process account (mechanisms)

Question 10

Independent causes

Answer 10

Structure and individual are direct causes, but independent from each other (both are direct causes of the outcome, but their influence is independent of each other)

Question 11

Interacting causes

Answer 11

Structure and Individual work together to lead to outcome (both are direct causes of the outcome, but the influences of each causes depend on each other)

Question 12

Independent cause example

Answer 12

TV example
~ the TV switch and the remote are both causes for the TV to turn on, but they don’t work together to turn on the TV (independent)

Question 13

Interactive cause example

Answer 13

Flashlight example
~ the switch and the battery lead to the outcome of the flashlight turning on
~ the switch only has control when the battery is in, and the battery only has control when the switch is on

Question 14

Structure and Individual are more like the flashlight example

Answer 14

~ remove resources of structure, individuals can’t make choice
~ when given resources of structure, individual’s choices matter

Question 15

Dretske’s example

Answer 15

The switch and wire that leads to the light or bell example
~ The wire connects the switch to the lightbulb, but nothing is connected to the bell
~ the switch is the triggering cause, the wire is the structuring cause (different types of control)
~ the wire causes which system can turn on
~the switch causes when the system turns on

Question 16

Causal constraint

Answer 16

~ limits possible values of explanatory target
~ external to the process they limit
~relatively fixed compared to other explanatory factors

Question 17

Why is structure seen as harder to change?

Answer 17

Structure changes on longer time scales and is relatively fixed compared to other explanatory factors

Question 18

Structuring cause

Answer 18

Guides the explanandum outcome

Question 19

Extreme constraint

Answer 19

So limiting that the agent has no choice
~ think of Jason and the city bus

Question 20

Strong constraint

Answer 20

Makes outcomes favorable or rational compared to others