McDonnell, N. (2018) Transitivity and proportionality in causation. Synthese, 195(3), pp. 1211-1229. (doi: 10.1007/s11229-016-1263-1)
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Abstract
It is widely assumed that causation is transitive, but putative counterexamples abound. These examples come in three varieties: switching cases, short circuit cases, and what I will call mismatch cases. In this paper I focus on the mismatch variety, which is widely taken to be the easiest to resolve. I will first introduce the cases and the existing strategy for dealing with them, then present a new counterexample which is immune to that strategy. In response to this new counterexample I will introduce a novel solution, one drawing on Yablo’s proportionality principle for causation. There is a catch, however. Either proportionality is a strong constraint—it constrains which causal claims are true—and the solution works, or it is not and causation is not transitive after all. I will argue that the first horn has unacceptable consequences and should be rejected, but that the second horn may be less costly than it initially appears.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | McDonnell, Dr Neil |
| Authors: | McDonnell, N. |
| College/School: | College of Arts > School of Humanities > Philosophy |
| Journal Name: | Synthese |
| Publisher: | Springer Netherlands |
| ISSN: | 0039-7857 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1573-0964 |
| Published Online: | 17 November 2016 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2016 The Author |
| First Published: | First published in Synthese 195(3):12111-1229 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons License |
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