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All Outputs (99)

Disagreement about Evidence-Based Policy (2024)
Book Chapter
Cowen, N., & Cartwright, N. (in press). Disagreement about Evidence-Based Policy. In M. Baghramian, J. A. Carter, & R. Cosker-Rowland (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Disagreement. Routledge

How Should Evidence Inform Education Policy? (2022)
Book Chapter
Joyce, K. E., & Cartwright, N. (2022). How Should Evidence Inform Education Policy?. In R. Curren (Ed.), Handbook of Philosophy of Education. Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003172246-9

This chapter explores how evidence from various sources can support education policy decisions. Although policy arguments include some normative premises, we focus on the evidence needed to support their descriptive premises, homing in on predictions... Read More about How Should Evidence Inform Education Policy?.

How to Learn about Causes in the Single Case (2022)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N. (2022). How to Learn about Causes in the Single Case. In J. Widner, M. Woolcock, & D. Ortega Nieto (Eds.), . Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108688253.003

RCTs have gained considerable prominence as a ‘gold standard’ for establishing whether a given policy intervention has a causal effect, but what do these experiments actually tell us and how useful is this information for policy-makers? Cartwright dr... Read More about How to Learn about Causes in the Single Case.

Will Your Policy Work? Experiments versus Models (2018)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N. (2018). Will Your Policy Work? Experiments versus Models. In I. Peschard, & B. van Frassen (Eds.), The experimental side of modeling. University of Minnesota Press

Are laws of nature consistent with contingency? (2018)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N., & Merlussi, P. (2018). Are laws of nature consistent with contingency?. In W. Ott, & L. Patto (Eds.), Laws of Nature, an anthology (221-244). Oxford University Press

Modeling mitigation and adaptation policies to predict their effectiveness: The limits of randomized controlled trials (2018)
Book Chapter
Marcellesi, A., & Cartwright, N. (2018). Modeling mitigation and adaptation policies to predict their effectiveness: The limits of randomized controlled trials. In E. Lloyd, & E. Winsberg (Eds.), Climate modelling : philosophical and conceptual issues (449-480). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65058-6_15

Policies to combat climate change should be supported by evidence regarding their effectiveness. But what kind of evidence is that? And what tools should one use to gather such evidence? Many argue that randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gol... Read More about Modeling mitigation and adaptation policies to predict their effectiveness: The limits of randomized controlled trials.

A Theory of Measurement (2017)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N., Bradburn, N., & Fuller, J. (2017). A Theory of Measurement. In L. McClimans (Ed.), Measurement in medicine : philosophical essays on assessment and evaluation. Rowman & Littlefield

Causal Powers: Why Humeans Can't Even Be Instrumentalists (2017)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N. (2017). Causal Powers: Why Humeans Can't Even Be Instrumentalists. In J. D. Jacobs (Ed.), Causal powers (9-23). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198796572.003.0002

Hume urged that there is no difference between the obtaining of a power and its exercise; others, that there is no difference between its exercise and the result that occurs. This chapter reinforces the reasons, based in the success of the analytic m... Read More about Causal Powers: Why Humeans Can't Even Be Instrumentalists.

Single Case Causes: What is Evidence and Why (2016)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N. (2016). Single Case Causes: What is Evidence and Why. In H. Chao, & J. Reiss (Eds.), Philosophy of science in practice : Nancy Cartwright and the nature of scientific reasoning (11-24). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45532-7_2

How do we establish singular causal claims? It seems we do this all the time, from courtrooms to cloud chambers. Nevertheless, there is a strong lobby in the evidence-based medicine and policy movements that argues that we cannot make reliable causal... Read More about Single Case Causes: What is Evidence and Why.

Economics as Science (2016)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N., & Davis, J. (2016). Economics as Science. In R. Skidelsky, & N. Craig (Eds.), Who runs the economy? The role of power in economics (43-55). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58017-7_4

The plan for this talk is to discuss, first, the question ‘What is science?’ I’m going to explain that the second question, ‘Does economics fit the bill?’, is hard to answer since we have no good answer to the first question. Then I shall turn to the... Read More about Economics as Science.

Deliberating Policy: Where morals and methods mix (2016)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N., & Marcellesi, A. (2016). Deliberating Policy: Where morals and methods mix. In M. Couch, & J. Pfeifer (Eds.), The philosophy of Philip Kitcher (229-252). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780199381357.003.0010

Nancy Cartwright and Alexandre Marcellesi argue that policy decisions ought to be based on (1) whether the policy will be effective and (2) whether it is morally, politically, socially, and culturally acceptable. Greater weight, though, is often give... Read More about Deliberating Policy: Where morals and methods mix.

The Dethronement of Laws in Science (2016)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N. (2016). The Dethronement of Laws in Science. In N. Cartwright, & K. Ward (Eds.), Rethinking order : after the laws of nature (25-52). Bloomsbury Academic

How Could Laws Make Things Happen? (2015)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N. (2015). How Could Laws Make Things Happen?. In N. Spurway (Ed.), Laws of Nature, Laws of God? Proceedings of the Science and Religion Forum Conference 2014 (115-135). Cambridge Scholars Publishing

EBP: Where Rigor Matters (2015)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N., & Marcellesi, A. (2015). EBP: Where Rigor Matters. In C. Crangle, A. García de la Sienra, & H. E. Longino (Eds.), Foundations and methods from mathematics to neuroscience : essays inspired by Patrick Suppes. CSLI Publications

Measurement (2014)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N. (2014). Measurement. In N. Cartwright, & E. Montuschi (Eds.), Philosophy of Social Science. A New Introduction. Oxford University Press