more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Our most secure basis for causal inference is manipulation, as when flicking the switch causes the light to go on.
Gist of Idea
Causal inferences are clearest when we can manipulate things
Source
Peter Lipton (Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd) [2004], 08 'From cause')
Book Ref
Lipton,Peter: 'Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd ed)' [Routledge 2004], p.133
A Reaction
Correct, but Woodward elevates this into an entire theory of causation, which does not convince me.