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International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Series | Book | Chapter

206462

Assessing the status of the common cause principle

Miklós Rédei

pp. 433-442

Abstract

The Common Cause Principle, stating that correlations are either consequences of a direct causal link between the correlated events or are due to a common cause, is assessed from the perspective of its viability and it is argued that at present we do not have strictly empirical evidence that could be interpreted as disconfirming the principle. In particular it is not known whether spacelike correlations predicted by quantum field theory can be explained by properly localized common causes, and EPR correlations are known to be unexplainable only by common causes that are required to satisfy conditions that are empirically not tested.

Publication details

Published in:

Dieks Dennis, Hartmann Stephan, Uebel Thomas, Weber Marcel, Galavotti Maria Carla (2014) New directions in the philosophy of science. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 433-442

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-04382-1_29

Full citation:

Rédei Miklós (2014) „Assessing the status of the common cause principle“, In: D. Dieks, S. Hartmann, T. Uebel, M. Weber & M. Galavotti (eds.), New directions in the philosophy of science, Dordrecht, Springer, 433–442.