Improving Child Safety: deliberation, judgement and empirical research
(2017)
Book
Munro, E., Cartwright, N., Hardie, J., & Montuschi, E. (2017). Improving Child Safety: deliberation, judgement and empirical research. Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society (CHESS)
All Outputs (230)
Big Systems Versus Stocky Tangles: It Can Matter to the Details (2017)
Journal Article
Cartwright, N. (2018). Big Systems Versus Stocky Tangles: It Can Matter to the Details. Erkenntnis, 83(1), 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-016-9869-8Wolfgang Spohn’s Frege prize lecture, like the work on which it is based, is a tour de force of rich, elegant, coherent argument about how the projected world that we experience is constructed. But we do not live in this projected world nor reason ab... Read More about Big Systems Versus Stocky Tangles: It Can Matter to the Details.
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_2How 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.
The limitations of randomised controlled trials (2016)
Digital Artefact
Deaton, A., & Cartwright, N. (2016). The limitations of randomised controlled trials. [VOX, CEPR Policy Portal]In recent years, the use of randomised controlled trials has spread from labour market and welfare programme evaluation to other areas of economics, and to other social sciences, perhaps most prominently in development and health economics. This colu... Read More about The limitations of randomised controlled trials.
What’s so special about empirical adequacy? (2016)
Preprint / Working Paper
Cartwright, N., & Bhakthavatsalam, S. (2016). What’s so special about empirical adequacy?Theory choice has long been a prime topic in philosophy of science: ‘How should we choose from among competing theories?’ Theory virtues have also in recent years become a standard, closely related topic: 'What virtues should a desirable theory have?... Read More about What’s so special about empirical adequacy?.
A Theory of Measurement (2016)
Preprint / Working Paper
Cartwright, N., Bradburn, N. M., & Fuller, J. (2016). A Theory of MeasurementThis paper discusses basic issues about the nature of measurement for concepts in the social sciences and medicine, introducing a three-stage theory of measurement. In science and policy investigations we study quantities and qualities (or quality/qu... Read More about A Theory of Measurement.
Understanding and misunderstanding randomized controlled trials (2016)
Preprint / Working Paper
Deaton, A., & Cartwright, N. (2016). Understanding and misunderstanding randomized controlled trialsRCTs would be more useful if there were more realistic expectations of them and if their pitfalls were better recognized. For example, and contrary to many claims in the applied literature, randomization does not equalize everything but the treatment... Read More about Understanding and misunderstanding randomized controlled trials.
Are laws of nature consistent with contingency? (2016)
Preprint / Working Paper
Cartwright, N., & Merlussi, P. (2016). Are laws of nature consistent with contingency?Are the laws of nature consistent with contingency about what happens in the world? That depends on what the laws of nature actually are, but it also depends on what they are like. This latter is our concern here. Different philosophic views give dif... Read More about Are laws of nature consistent with contingency?.
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_4The 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.
Where is the Rigor When You Need It? (2016)
Journal Article
Cartwright, N. (2016). Where is the Rigor When You Need It?. Foundations and trends in accounting, 10(2-4), 106-124. https://doi.org/10.1561/1400000045When it comes to causal conclusions, rigor matters. To this end we impose high standards for how studies from which we draw causal conclusions are conducted. For instance, we are widely urged to prefer randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or instrumen... Read More about Where is the Rigor When You Need It?.
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/9780199381357.003.0010Nancy 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
Rethinking Order: After the Laws of Nature (2016)
Book
Cartwright, N., & Ward, K. (Eds.). (2016). Rethinking Order: After the Laws of Nature. Bloomsbury Academic
Loose Talk Kills: What’s Worrying about Unity of Method (2016)
Journal Article
Cartwright, N. (2016). Loose Talk Kills: What’s Worrying about Unity of Method. Philosophy of Science, 83(5), 768-778. https://doi.org/10.1086/687862There is danger in stressing commonalities among methods because the differences matter in fixing the meaning of our claims. Different methods can, and often do, test the same claim. But it takes a strong network of theory and empirical results to en... Read More about Loose Talk Kills: What’s Worrying about Unity of Method.
The Natural and the Moral Order: What’s to Blame? (2016)
Book Chapter
Cartwright, N. (2016). The Natural and the Moral Order: What’s to Blame?. In W. Doniger, P. Galison, & S. Neiman (Eds.), What reason promises : essays on reason, nature, and history (13-18). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110455113-004
Contingency and the order of nature (2016)
Journal Article
Cartwright, N. (2016). Contingency and the order of nature. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 58, 56-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.12.008Many profess faith in the universal rule of deterministic law. I urge remaining agnostic, putting into nature only what we need to account for what we know to be the case: order where, and to the extent that, we see it. Powers and mechanisms can do t... Read More about Contingency and the order of nature.
Understanding and misunderstanding randomized controlled trials (2016)
Preprint / Working Paper
Cartwright, N., & Deaton, A. (2016). Understanding and misunderstanding randomized controlled trialsWhat allows research evidence to contribute to successful social policy and improve practice in public services? The establishment of the What Works Network, a group of evidence ‘clearing houses’, that summarise academic research evidence for practit... Read More about Understanding and misunderstanding randomized controlled trials.
Philosophy of Social Technology: Get on Board (2015)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Cartwright, N. (2015). Philosophy of Social Technology: Get on Board.
Scientific Models versus Social Reality (2015)
Journal Article
Cartwright, N. (2015). Scientific Models versus Social Reality. Building Research and Information, 44(3-4), 334-337. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2015.1083811Policy predictions fail for the very many different kinds of case-by-case local factors described in the Building Research & Information (2015) special issue (vol. 43/4) entitled ‘Closing the Policy Gaps: From Formulation to Outcomes'. Work in philos... Read More about Scientific Models versus Social Reality.
Making the Most of the Evidence: Evidence-based policy in the classroom (2015)
Preprint / Working Paper
Cartwright, N., Cowen, N., Virk, B., & Mascarenhas-Keyes, S. (2015). Making the Most of the Evidence: Evidence-based policy in the classroomWhat allows research evidence to contribute to successful social policy and improve practice in public services? The establishment of the What Works Network, a group of evidence ‘clearing houses’, that summarise academic research evidence for practit... Read More about Making the Most of the Evidence: Evidence-based policy in the classroom.