more from Jonathan Schaffer

Single Idea 17307

[catalogued under 26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 1. Causation]

Full Idea

The leading treatments of causation work within 'structural equation models', with events represented via variables each of which is allotted a range of permitted values, which constitute a 'contrast space'.

Gist of Idea

Nowadays causation is usually understood in terms of equations and variable ranges

Source

Jonathan Schaffer (Grounding, Transitivity and Contrastivity [2012], 4.3.1)

Book Reference

'Metaphysical Grounding', ed/tr. Correia,F/Schnieder,B [CUP 2012], p.130


A Reaction

Like Woodward's idea that causation is a graph, this seems to be a matter of plotting or formalising correlations between activities, which is a very Humean approach to causation.