John Campbell is Willis S. and Marion Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. He is author of Past, Space, and Self and Reference and Consciousness and coauthor of Berkeley’s Puzzle. He was awarded the Jean Nicod Prize in 2017.
I found this book highly engaging. The parts about Karl Jaspers and social robots are packed with insights that will make you nod and smile. Campbell argues that singular causation in the mind cannot be analyzed in terms of general causation, but instead is brought to light by human practices that rely on our imaginative understanding of 'the ballistics of people's thoughts and feelings.' These practices include attempts to reach legal verdicts beyond a reasonable doubt about people's motives. The book is accessible, it discusses a range of long-standing philosophical problems about action and interpretation, and no one will drown in technical details. It's simply fantastic. -Susanna Siegel, Harvard University There is a simplicity and directness with which John Campbell introduces and pursues material that has become cluttered and blocked in much philosophical discussion that has lost sight of the fundamental problems motivating such discussion in the first place. Causation in Psychology offers genuine, true solutions that should change the philosophical landscape for good. A fascinating, deeply original book. -Bill Brewer, King's College London