Three Kinds of Causal Indeterminacy
Publisher DOI
Abstract
The goal of this paper is to argue that there is indeterminacy in causation. I present three types of cases in which it is indeterminate whether an event c caused another event e: (1) cases of absence causation recently discussed by Bernstein and by Swanson, (2) cases leading to Sorites paradoxes for causation, and (3) cases where c and e occur in certain indeterministic causal structures and it is therefore indeterminate whether there is a causal relation between them. These cases, I argue, provide strong evidence that indeterminacy is an important general feature of the causal relation and that philosophical theorizing about causation should take this observation into account.
Date Issued
2024
Publication Type
Article
Subjects
causation
•
probabilistic causation
•
absence causation
•
prevention
•
Sorites paradox
•
indeterminacy
Language(s)
en
Additional Credits
Journal
Australasian journal of philosophy
Publisher
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
ISSN
1471-6828
Access(Rights)
open.access