Theories of Causation

Philosophers have offered competing analyses of what causation is: regularity, counterfactual dependence, probability-raising, physical processes, and interventionist manipulation. This topic surveys and compares these accounts.

Definition

A theory of causation specifies the conditions under which one item causes another and what the causal relation fundamentally consists in.

Scope

Covers Humean regularity theory and Mackie's INUS conditions, probabilistic theories, process and conserved-quantity theories, and interventionist or manipulability accounts, together with the test cases that distinguish them.

Core questions

• Is causation a matter of regularity, dependence, process, or manipulation?
• Can causation be reduced to non-causal facts?
• How do the theories handle probabilistic causation?
• Which account best fits causal reasoning in the sciences?

Key concepts

• Regularity
• INUS condition
• Probabilistic causation
• Causal process
• Intervention
• Manipulability

Key theories

Regularity theory and INUS conditions

Causes are regularly conjoined with effects; Mackie refines this so that a cause is an insufficient but non-redundant part of an unnecessary but sufficient condition for the effect.

Process theory

Salmon analyzes causation through causal processes that transmit conserved quantities such as energy and momentum, distinguishing them from pseudo-processes that cannot transmit marks.

Interventionist theory

Woodward analyzes causal claims in terms of what would happen under idealized interventions: X causes Y if intervening on X changes Y, providing a framework central to causal modeling in the sciences.

History

Hume's regularity view dominated until the twentieth century, when Mackie formalized it with INUS conditions. Salmon and Dowe developed process theories, while the interventionist tradition, systematized by Woodward and connected to causal Bayes nets, became influential across the sciences.

Debates

Are difference-making and production rival or complementary?

Counterfactual and interventionist theories analyze causation as difference-making, while process theories analyze it as physical production; some argue these capture two distinct concepts rather than competing analyses of one.

Key figures

• David Hume
• J. L. Mackie
• Wesley Salmon
• Phil Dowe
• James Woodward

Seminal works

• hume1748
• mackie1980

Frequently asked questions

What are INUS conditions?

An INUS condition is an Insufficient but Non-redundant part of an Unnecessary but Sufficient condition for an effect. Mackie used this notion to refine the regularity theory, capturing how a cause can be one essential element of a complex sufficient condition.