Causal models and causal relativism.

A promising development in the philosophy of causation analyzes actual causation using structural equation models, i.e., “causal models”. This paper carefully considers what it means for an interpreted model to be accurate of its target situation. These considerations show, first, that our existing...

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Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 205; no. 3; pp. 1 - 27
Autor principal: McDonald, Jennifer
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Mar2025
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        au: McDonald, Jennifer
        affil: https://ror.org/00hj8s172 Department of Philosophy, Columbia University, 708 Philosophy Hall, 1150 Amsterdam Ave, 10027, New York, NY, USA
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        Accuracy
        Actual causation
        Aptness
        Causal models
        Metaphysics of causation
        Philosophy and Religious Studies Philosophy
        Serious possibilities
      ab: A promising development in the philosophy of causation analyzes actual causation using structural equation models, i.e., “causal models”. This paper carefully considers what it means for an interpreted model to be accurate of its target situation. These considerations show, first, that our existing understanding of accuracy is inadequate. Further, and more controversially, they show that any causal model analysis is committed to a kind of relativism—a view whereby causation is a three-part relation holding between a cause, an effect, and something else. In particular, insofar as a causal model analysis construes causation mind-and-language independently, it must treat causation as relative to a specification of background possibilities—i.e., a ‘modal profile.’ Or, so I argue.
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