The extensionality of causation and causal-explanatory contexts

Philosophy of Science 43 (2):266-277 (1976)
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Abstract

I argue that 'c' occurs extensionally in 'c caused e' and 'D' occurs extensionally in 'c caused e because c is D'. I claim that this has been insufficiently appreciated because the two contexts are often run together and because it has not been clear that the description D of c is among the referents of an explanatory argument. I argue as well that Hume's analysis of causation is consistent with taking causation to be a relation between single events, and that even if events are eliminated as virtual entities, extensionality holds for all terms in the resulting context

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References found in this work

Causes and Conditions.J. L. Mackie - 1965 - American Philosophical Quarterly 2 (4):245 - 264.
Causal relations.Donald Davidson - 1967 - Journal of Philosophy 64 (21):691-703.
Contrastive statements.Fred I. Dretske - 1972 - Philosophical Review 81 (4):411-437.
Causal relations.Zeno Vendler - 1967 - Journal of Philosophy 64 (21):704-713.
Scientific Explanation.Nicholas Rescher - 1970 - Philosophy 47 (182):380-382.

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