Abstract
This chapter introduces the book and explains that causation and causal explanations are central to human understanding. The chapter also begins to explain why the problem of causation has been such a thorn in the side of both philosophy and the natural/social sciences. It notes that the field of criminology essentially has three core aims: defining crime, explaining how crime occurs and deciding what to do about crime. It explains the aetiological crisis that has beset criminology and how we are failing our own discipline. It also explains why this is an issue for criminology students and criminological theorists and how they may use the book. It also explains how and why each chapter is set out.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adams, D. (1987). Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
Clark, A. (1998). Twisted Tales: Causal Complexity and Cognitive Scientific Explanation. In F. Keil and R. Wilson (eds.), Explanation and Cognition. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Davidson, D. (1994). Actions, Reasons and Causes. In M. Martin and L. C. McIntyre (eds.), Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science (pp. 675–686). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Ehring, D. (1997). Causation and Persistence: A Theory of Causation. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gerring, J. (2005). Causation: A Unified Framework for the Social Sciences. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 17(2), 163–198.
Hollis, M. (1994). The Philosophy of Social Science: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hume, D. (1999). An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Tom L. Beauchamp (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hume, D. (2003). A Treatise of Human Nature. J. P. Wright, R. Stecker, and G. Fuller (eds.) London: Everyman Paperbacks.
Mackie, J. L. (1965). Causes and Conditions. American Philosophical Quarterly, 2(4), 245–264.
Mackie, J. L. (1974). The Cement of the Universe: A study of Causation. New York: Oxford University Press.
Marini, M. M. and Singer, B. (1988). Causality in the Social Sciences. Sociological Methodology, 18, 347–409.
Mele, A. R. (2007). Decisions, Intentions, Urges and Free Will: Why Libet has not shown what he says he has. In J. K. Campbell, M. O’Rourke, and H. Silverstein (eds.), Causation and Explanation (pp. 241–264). A Bradford Book, Cambridge: MIT Press.
Song, J. J. (2013). Causatives and Causation: A Universal-Typological Perspective. London & New York: Routledge.
Weisburd, D. and Piquero, A. R. (2008). How Well Do Criminologists Explain Crime? Statistical Modelling in Published Studies. Crime and Justice, 37(1), 453–502.
Wikström, P.-O. H. (2006). Individuals, Settings and Acts of Crime: Situational Mechanisms and the Explanation of Crime’. In P.-O. H. Wikström and R. J. Sampson (eds.), The Explanation of Crime: Context, Mechanisms and Development (pp. 61–107). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Young, J. (1986). The Failure of Criminology: The Need for Radical Realism. In R. Matthews and J. Young (eds.), Confronting Crime. London: Sage.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Warr, J. (2016). Introduction. In: An Introduction to Criminological Theory and the Problem of Causation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47446-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47446-5_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47445-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47446-5
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)