TY - CHAP
T1 - Causal Network Accounts of Ill-Being
T2 - Depression & Digital Well-Being
AU - Byrd, Nick
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Depression is a common and devastating instance of ill-being which deserves an account. Moreover, the ill-being of depression is impacted by digital technology: some uses of digital technology increase such ill-being while other uses of digital technology increase well-being. So a good account of ill-being would explicate the antecedents of depressive symptoms and their relief, digitally and otherwise. This paper borrows a causal network account of well-being and applies it to ill-being, particularly depression. Causal networks are found to provide a principled, coherent, intuitively plausible, and empirically adequate account of cases of depression in everyday and digital contexts. Causal network accounts of ill-being also offer philosophical, scientific, and practical utility. Insofar as other accounts of ill-being cannot offer these advantages, we should prefer causal network accounts of ill-being.
AB - Depression is a common and devastating instance of ill-being which deserves an account. Moreover, the ill-being of depression is impacted by digital technology: some uses of digital technology increase such ill-being while other uses of digital technology increase well-being. So a good account of ill-being would explicate the antecedents of depressive symptoms and their relief, digitally and otherwise. This paper borrows a causal network account of well-being and applies it to ill-being, particularly depression. Causal networks are found to provide a principled, coherent, intuitively plausible, and empirically adequate account of cases of depression in everyday and digital contexts. Causal network accounts of ill-being also offer philosophical, scientific, and practical utility. Insofar as other accounts of ill-being cannot offer these advantages, we should prefer causal network accounts of ill-being.
KW - Causation
KW - Depression
KW - Digital well-being
KW - Ethics
KW - Ill-being
KW - Philosophy of science
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103718939&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85103718939&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-50585-1_11
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-50585-1_11
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85103718939
T3 - Philosophical Studies Series
SP - 221
EP - 245
BT - Philosophical Studies Series
ER -