This volume is a collection of new essays by specialists that trace the concept of efficient causation from its discovery (or invention) in Ancient Greece, through its development in late antiquity, the medieval period, and modern philosophy, to its use in contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of science.

Introduction ; Tad M. Schmaltz ; Part I Ancient and Medieval ; 1. Aristotle and the Discovery of Efficient Causation, Thomas M. Tuozzo ; Reflection: Representations of Efficient Causation in the Iliad, Tobias Myers ; 2. Efficient Causation in the Stoic Tradition, R. J. Hankinson ; 3. Efficient Causation in Late Antiquity and the Earlier Medieval Era, Ian Wilks ; 4. Efficient Causation: From Ibn Sina to Ockham, Kara Richardson ; Reflection: Efficient Causation and Musical Inspiration, Anna Harwell Celenza ; Part II Modern ; 5. Efficient Causation: From Suarez to Descartes, Tad M. Schmaltz ; 6. Efficient Causation in Spinoza and Leibniz, Martin Lin ; Reflection: Reason, Calculating Machines and Efficient Causation, Matthew L. Jones ; 7. Efficient Causation in Malebranche and Berkeley, Lisa Downing ; 8. Efficient Causation in Hume, P. J. E. Kail ; 9. Efficient Causation in Kant, Eric Watkins ; Part III Contemporary ; 10. Contemporary Efficient Causation: Humean Themes, Douglas Ehring ; Reflection:Efficient Causation in Art, Tina Rivers ; 11. Contemporary Efficient Causation: Aristotelian Themes, Stephen Mumford ; Bibliography ; Pre-20th-Century Sources ; 20th- and 21st-Century Literature ; Index

"[E]ach contributor provides an expert treatment of a chapter in the history of efficient causation, and the book as a whole gives a useful framework to reflect historically on a key philosophical concept." --Journal of the History of Philosophy "This fine history of the evolution of conceptions of causation has no rival... Contributors' reflections on the interactive development of philosophical conceptions of the concept of efficient causation make this a complex but rewarding work for advanced students of philosophy. Comprehensive index and bibliography... Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above." --Choice "Does the volume achieve these big-picture goals? Yes, for the most part. The quality of the scholarship is very high without being unapproachable, the volume lays out a detailed and insightful history of its target concept, and the Reflections are engaging and thought provoking...volume succeeds admirably in its stated goals...Efficient Causation is a history of causation written for metaphysicians. By those lights, it is excellent." --Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Online "The volume showcases crucial elements that at one point or another entered into philosophical views of efficient causation. It provides a useful framework for taking a fresh look at existing work on causation...This Oxford Philosophical Concepts anthology represents a great first step toward a better, historically situated, understanding of efficient causation. As such it is a welcome addition to the philosophical literature." -- American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

Selling point: Traces the history of the idea of efficient causation Selling point: Includes several Reflection essays, in which top scholars in the humanities and sciences explore the significance of causality Selling point: Part of the Oxford Philosophical Concepts series - The History of Philosophy's Most Important Ideas

Tad M. Schmaltz is Professor of Philosophy and James B. and Grace J. Nelson Fellow at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has published articles and book chapters on various topics in early modern philosophy, and is the author of Malebranche's Theory of the Soul (Oxford, 1996), Radical Cartesianism (Cambridge, 2002), and Descartes on Causation (Oxford, 2008).

Selling point: Traces the history of the idea of efficient causation Selling point: Includes several Reflection essays, in which top scholars in the humanities and sciences explore the significance of causality Selling point: Part of the Oxford Philosophical Concepts series - The History of Philosophy's Most Important Ideas