Title:
Causal Inference and the Metaphysics of Causa
Abstract:
What is the nature of causation explains the success of causal inference techniques? Existing metaphysical theories of causation offer no answer. I shall outline a metaphysical theory that is designed to account for the possibility of causal inference. I shall then indicate how this theory also accounts naturally for token-level causation and the relation between causation and rational action. Finally, I shall compare the resulting picture with “interventionist” approaches to causation.