Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Journal | Volume | Article

168332

An internal limit of the structural analysis of causation

Alessandro Giordani

pp. 429-450

Abstract

Structural models of systems of causal connections have become a common tool in the analysis of the concept of causation. In the present paper I offer a general argument to show that one of the most powerful definitions of the concept of actual cause, provided within the structural models framework, is not sufficient to grant a full account of our intuitive judgements about actual causation, so that we are still waiting for a comprehensive definition. This is done not simply by focusing on a set of case studies, but by arguing that our intuitions about two different kinds of causal patterns, i.e., overdetermination and counterdetermination, cannot be addressed using that definition.

Publication details

Published in:

Agazzi Evandro, Buzzoni Marco (2016) Epistemologia. Axiomathes 26 (4).

Pages: 429-450

Full citation:

Giordani Alessandro (2016) „An internal limit of the structural analysis of causation“. Axiomathes 26 (4), 429–450.