Weber, Marcel (2022) Coherent Causal Control: A New Distinction within Causality. [Preprint]

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Abstract

The recent literature on causality has seen the introduction of several distinctions within causality, which are thought to be important for understanding the widespread scientific practice of focusing causal explanations on a subset of the factors that are causally relevant for a phenomenon. Concepts used to draw such distinctions include, among others, stability, specificity, proportionality, or actual-difference making. In this contribution, I propose a new distinction that picks out an explanatorily salient class of causes in biological systems. Some select causes in complex biological systems, I argue, have the property of enabling coherent causal control of these systems. Examples of such control variables include hormones and other signaling molecules, e.g., TOR (target of rapamycin), morphogens or the products of homeotic selector genes in embryonic pattern formation. I propose an analysis of this notion based on concepts borrowed from causal graph theory.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Weber, Marcel marcel.weber@unige.ch
Keywords:	Causality in complex systems; distinctions within causality; stability; causal specificity; proportionality; actual-difference making cause; causal coherence; biological functions; master regulators; morphogens; homeotic selector genes
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Developmental Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation
Depositing User:	Prof. Marcel Weber
Date Deposited:	28 Nov 2022 19:57
Last Modified:	28 Nov 2022 19:57
Item ID:	21480
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Developmental Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation
Date:	6 November 2022
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/21480

Available Versions of this Item

• Coherent Causal Control: A New Distinction within Causality. (deposited 06 Nov 2022 21:59)
  • Coherent Causal Control: A New Distinction within Causality. (deposited 28 Nov 2022 19:57) [Currently Displayed]
    • Coherent Causal Control: A New Distinction within Causality. (deposited 28 Nov 2022 19:59)

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