Northcott, Robert (2006) Causal efficacy and the analysis of variance. Biology & Philosophy 21 (2), pp. 253-276. ISSN 0169-3867.
Abstract
The causal impacts of genes and environment on any one biological trait are inextricably entangled, and consequently it is widely accepted that it makes no sense in singleton cases to privilege either factor for particular credit. On the other hand, at a population level it may well be the case that one of the factors is responsible for more variation than the other. Standard methodological practice in biology uses the statistical technique of analysis of variance to measure this latter kind of causal efficacy. In this paper, I argue that: 1) analysis of variance is in fact badly suited to this role; and 2) a superior alternative definition is available that readily reconciles both the entangled-singleton and the population-variation senses of causal efficacy.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | analysis of variance, casual efficacy, counterfactuals, environment, genes, nature, nurture |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies |
| Depositing User: | Sarah Hall |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Dec 2017 11:59 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:38 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/20702 |
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