Research Catalog

Title

Constructing cause in international relations / Richard Ned Lebow, King's College London.

Author

Lebow, Richard Ned.

Publication

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Supplementary Content

Cover image

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

x, 196 pages; 24 cm

Summary

• "Cause is a problematic concept in social science, as in all fields of knowledge. We organise information in terms of cause and effect to impose order on the world, but this can impede a more sophisticated understanding. In his latest book, Richard Ned Lebow reviews understandings of cause in physics and philosophy and concludes that no formulation is logically defensible and universal in its coverage. This is because cause is not a feature of the world but a cognitive shorthand we use to make sense of it. In practice, causal inference is always rhetorical and must accordingly be judged on grounds of practicality. Lebow offers a new approach - 'inefficient causation' - that is constructivist in its emphasis on the reasons people have for acting as they do, but turns to other approaches to understand the aggregation of their behaviour. This novel approach builds on general understandings and idiosyncratic features of context"--
• "Cause is a problematic concept in social science, as in all fields of knowledge. We organize information in terms of cause and effect to impose order on the world, but this can impede a more sophisticated understanding. In his latest book, Richard Ned Lebow reviews understandings of cause in physics and philosophy and concludes that no formulation is logically defensible and universal in its coverage. This is because cause is not a feature of the world but a cognitive shorthand we use to make sense of it. In practice, causal inference is always rhetorical and must accordingly be judged on grounds of practicality. Lebow offers a new approach - 'inefficient causation' - that is constructivist in its emphasis on the reasons people have for acting as they do, but turns to other approaches to understand the aggregation of their behaviour. This novel approach builds on general understandings and idiosyncratic features of context"--

Subject

• International relations
• Social sciences and state

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

1. The quest for cause -- 2. Inefficient causation I -- 3. Inefficient causation II -- 4. The European reconceptualisation of space -- 5. Cause and knowledge

Call Number

JFE 16-6768

ISBN

• 9781107047907
• 1107047900

LCCN

• 2013032789
• 40023555258

OCLC

858749401

Author

Lebow, Richard Ned.

Title

Constructing cause in international relations / Richard Ned Lebow, King's College London.

Publisher

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Connect to:

Table of contents

Cover image

Other Standard Identifier

40023555258

Research Call Number

JFE 16-6768