Inderterminacy in Causation

Philosophical Quarterly 67 (268):606-624 (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

I argue that there are some causal relata for which it is indeterminate whether one caused the other. Positing indeterminacy in causation helps us defend contested principles in the logic of causation and makes possible new ways of thinking about the theoretical impact of symmetric causal overdetermination. I close by discussing amendments of current theories of causation that would help explain causal indeterminacy.

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

2017

DOI

10.1093/pq/pqw068

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,202

External links

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

Through your library

My notes

Similar books and articles

Overdetermination, Counterfactuals, and Mental Causation.Chiwook Won - 2014 - Philosophical Review 123 (2):205-229.
Causal Overdetermination for Humeans?Michael Esfeld - 2010 - Metaphysica 11 (2):99-104.
Causal and Moral Indeterminacy.Sara Bernstein - 2016 - Ratio 29 (4):434-447.
Overdetermination in Intuitive Causal Decision Theory.Esteban Céspedes - 2013 - In Miguel Hoeltje, Thomas Spitzley & Wolfgang Spohn (eds.), Was dürfen wir glauben? Was sollen wir tun? Sektionsbeiträge des achten internationalen Kongresses der Gesellschaft für Analytische Philosophie e.V.
Three varieties of causal overdetermination.Eric Funkhouser - 2002 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 83 (4):335-351.
Indeterminism, counterfactuals, and causation.Richard Otte - 1987 - Philosophy of Science 54 (1):45-62.
Counterfactual Overdetermination vs. the Causal Exclusion Problem.Georg Sparber - 2005 - History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 27 (3/4):479 - 490.
Counterfactuals and event causation.Charles B. Cross - 1992 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 70 (3):307 – 323.
Absences, Possible Causation, and the Problem of Non-Locality.Phil Dowe - 2009 - The Monist 92 (1):23-40.
Causation and conditionals.Ernest Sosa (ed.) - 1975 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Exclusion, overdetermination, and the nature of causation.Thomas D. Bontly - 2005 - Journal of Philosophical Research 30:261-282.
Overdetermination Underdetermined.Sara Bernstein - 2016 - Erkenntnis 81 (1):17-40.
Advertisement for a sketch of an outline of a proto-theory of causation.Stephen Yablo - 2004 - In Ned Hall, L. A. Paul & John Collins (eds.), Causation and Counterfactuals. Cambridge: MIT Press. pp. 119-137.
Eliminativism, interventionism and the Overdetermination Argument.Eric Yang - 2013 - Philosophical Studies 164 (2):321-340.
Counterfactuals, Overdetermination and Mental Causation.Simona Aimar - 2011 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 111 (3pt3):469-477.

Analytics

Added to PP
2017-09-14

Downloads
75 (#212,303)

6 months
8 (#283,518)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Eric Swanson
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

What is a Law of Nature?D. M. Armstrong - 1983 - New York: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Sydney Shoemaker.
Grounding in the image of causation.Jonathan Schaffer - 2016 - Philosophical Studies 173 (1):49-100.
Causation.David Lewis - 1973 - Journal of Philosophy 70 (17):556-567.
Vagueness, truth and logic.Kit Fine - 1975 - Synthese 30 (3-4):265-300.

View all 63 references / Add more references