PhilSci Archive

Normal Causes for Normal Effects

Harinen, Totte (2014) Normal Causes for Normal Effects. In: UNSPECIFIED.

This is the latest version of this item.

[img]
Preview
PDF
Normal_Causes_for_Normal_Effects_(philsci).pdf

Download (304kB)

Abstract

Abstract Halpern and Hitchcock (2014) have used normality considerations in order to provide an analysis of actual causation. Their methodology is that of taking a set of causal scenarios and showing how their account of actual causation accords with typical judgments about those scenarios. Consequently, Halpern and Hitchcock have recently demonstrated that their theory deals with an impressive number of traditional problem cases discussed in the literature. However, in this paper I first show that the way in which Halpern and Hitchcock rule out certain cases of bogus prevention leaves their account susceptible to counterexamples. I then analyze those counterexamples in the light of the observation that, in addition to abnormal causes, people naturally focus on abnormal effects. I then argue that this bias towards abnormal effects has resulted in accounts of actual causation that cannot deal with causal scenarios in which the actual effect is normal.


Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Harinen, Tottetotte.harinen@kcl.ac.uk
Keywords: causation, actual causation, causal modeling, abnormality bias
Subjects: General Issues > Causation
Depositing User: Totte Harinen
Date Deposited: 11 Nov 2014 20:12
Last Modified: 11 Nov 2014 20:12
Item ID: 11140
Subjects: General Issues > Causation
Date: 2014
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/11140

Available Versions of this Item

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item