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Introduction to Special Issue on 'Actual Causation'

Baumgartner, Michael and Glynn, Luke (2013) Introduction to Special Issue on 'Actual Causation'. [Published Article]

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    Abstract

    An actual cause of some token effect is itself a (distinct) token event (or fact, or state of affairs, …) that helped to bring about that effect. The notion of an actual cause is different from that of a potential cause – for example a pre-empted backup – which had the capacity to bring about the effect, but which wasn't in fact operative on the occasion in question. Sometimes actual causes are also distinguished from mere background conditions: as when we judge that the struck match was a cause of the fire, while the presence of oxygen was merely part of the relevant background against which the struck match operated. Actual causation is also to be distinguished from type causation: actual causation holds between token events in a particular, concrete scenario; type causation, by contrast, holds between event kinds in scenario kinds.

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    Item Type: Published Article
    Keywords: Causation; Actual Causation; Causal Models; Structural Equations; Causal Graphs; Counterfactual Theories of Causation; Regularity Theories of Causation; Manipulationist Theories of Causation; Interventions; Psychology of Causation; Causal Decision Theory; Functional Theories of Causation
    Subjects: General Issues > Causation
    Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science
    General Issues > Decision Theory
    Specific Sciences > Psychology/Psychiatry
    Depositing User: Dr. Luke Glynn
    Date Deposited: 11 May 2013 11:34
    Last Modified: 11 May 2013 11:34
    Item ID: 9741
    Publisher: Springer
    Official URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10670-01...
    DOI or Unique Handle.: 10.1007/s10670-013-9441-8
    URI: http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/9741

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