Andersen, Holly (2026) Foundations of Causation. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Drawing on historical episodes where new fields of science branch out of philosophy, I offer six distinctive developments involved in such episodes as a template that can be applied to the contemporary example of causation branching out of philosophy to become a new science. In a potted history of major developments in causation since the beginning of the 20th century, I illustrate how these developments occurred in important points in the ongoing discussion around causation. I conclude by giving a general characterization of what it is that foundations do in any science, what they do in causation, and where the next steps are needed to finalize this process of launching causation as an independent science.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Andersen, Holly holly_andersen@sfu.ca 0000-0002-7950-8186
Additional Information:	This is penultimate version; forthcoming in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science
Keywords:	causation, explanation, modelling, laws, foundation, historiography, pragmatism
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Theory Change
Depositing User:	Dr. Holly Andersen
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2025 02:11
Last Modified:	18 Dec 2025 02:11
Item ID:	27547
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Theory Change
Date:	2026
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/27547

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