Causal Relata: Tokens, Types, or Variables?

Erkenntnis 63 (1):33-54 (2005)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The literature on causation distinguishes between causal claims relating properties or types and causal claims relating individuals or tokens. Many authors maintain that corresponding to these two kinds of causal claims are two different kinds of causal relations. Whether to regard causal relations among variables as yet another variety of causation is also controversial. This essay maintains that causal relations obtain among tokens and that type causal claims are generalizations concerning causal relations among these tokens.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 93,774

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Evidence and the Assessment of Causal Relations in the Health Sciences.Raffaella Campaner & Maria Carla Galavotti - 2012 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 26 (1):27-45.
On The Logic Of Event Causation.Uwe Scheffler - 1993 - Logic and Logical Philosophy 1:129-155.
Causation.Michael Tooley - 2009 - In Robin Le Poidevin, Simons Peter, McGonigal Andrew & Ross P. Cameron (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics. New York: Routledge. pp. 459-70.
Causality.Jessica M. Wilson - 2005 - In Sahotra Sarkar & Jessica Pfeifer (eds.), The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge. pp. 90--100.
Token Causal Powers.Jeff Engelhardt - 2016 - Philosophical Papers 45 (1-2):159-180.
Causation (2nd edition).Michael Tooley - 1996 - In Edwards (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Philosophy Supplement. Simon and Schuster Macmillan. pp. 72–75.
Contrastive Causal Claims: A Case Study.Georgie Statham - 2017 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 68 (3):663-688.
Causality Reunified.Michael Strevens - 2013 - Erkenntnis 78 (2):299-320.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
101 (#53,879)

6 months
14 (#987,135)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Daniel Hausman
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Citations of this work

The metaphysics of causation.Jonathan N. D. Schaffer - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Ontic Explanation Is either Ontic or Explanatory, but Not Both.Cory Wright & Dingmar van Eck - 2018 - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 5:997–1029.
Drift: A historical and conceptual overview.Anya Plutynski - 2007 - Biological Theory 2 (2):156-167.

View all 15 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Causality: Models, Reasoning and Inference.Judea Pearl - 2000 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Nature's capacities and their measurement.Nancy Cartwright - 1989 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Causality: Models, Reasoning and Inference.Judea Pearl - 2000 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 64 (1):201-202.

View all 23 references / Add more references