PhilSci Archive

The Two Sides of Interventionist Causation

Evans, Peter W. and Shrapnel, Sally (2017) The Two Sides of Interventionist Causation. [Preprint]

[img]
Preview
Text
Interventions_v9.pdf

Download (237kB) | Preview

Abstract

Pearl and Woodward are both well-known advocates of interventionist causation. What is less well-known is the interesting relationship between their respective accounts. In this paper we discuss the different perspectives of causation these two accounts present and show that they are two sides of the same coin. Pearl’s focus is on leveraging global network constraints to correctly identify local causal relations. The rules by which global causal structures are composed from distinct causal relations are precisely defined by the global constraints. Woodward’s focus, however, is on the use of local manipulation to identify single causal relations that then compose into global causal structures. The rules by which this composition takes place emerge as a result of local interventionist constraints (or so the claim goes). We contend that the complete picture of causality to be found between these two perspectives from the interventionist tradition must recognise both the global constraints of the sort identified by Pearl and the local constraints of the sort identified by Woodward, and the interplay between them: Pearl requires the possibility of local interventions and Woodward requires a global statistical framework within which to build composite causal structures.


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

Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Evans, Peter W.p.evans@uq.edu.au0000-0003-0214-4748
Shrapnel, Sallys.shrapnel@uq.edu.au
Keywords: causation Interventionism Bayesian network
Subjects: General Issues > Causation
Depositing User: Dr. Peter W. Evans
Date Deposited: 15 Mar 2017 14:56
Last Modified: 15 Mar 2017 14:56
Item ID: 12906
Subjects: General Issues > Causation
Date: 15 March 2017
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/12906

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item