A Theory of Causation
Causae Causantes (Originating Causes) as Inus Conditions in Branching Space-Times
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8397358 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nuel Belnap (University of Pittsburgh, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 221-253 |
| Publication date | 2005-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0882 • E-ISSN: 1464-3537 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjps/axi115 |
| OpenAlex | W2145275850 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 14 |
| References cited | 7 |
Branching space-times (BST) theory, as developed elsewhere, permits a sound and rigorously definable notion of ‘originating cause’ or causa causans—a type of transition event—of an outcome event. Mackie has famously suggested that causes form a family of ‘inus’ conditions, where an inus condition is ‘an insufficient but non-redundant part of an unnecessary but sufficient condition’. In this essay the needed concepts of BST theory are developed in detail, and it is then proved that the causae causantes of a given outcome event have exactly the structure of a set of Mackie inus conditions. The proof requires the assumption that there is no EPR-like ‘funny business’. This seems enough to constitute a theory of ‘causation’ in at least one of its many senses. 1. Introduction 2. The cement of the universe 3. Preliminaries 3.1 First definitions and postulates 3.2 Ontology: propositions 3.3 Ontology: initial events 3.4 Ontology: outcome events 3.5 Ontology: transition events 3.6 Propositional language applied to events 4. Causae causantes 4.1 Causae causantes are basic primary transition events 4.2 Causae causantes of an outcome chain 4.3 No funny business 5. Causae causantes and inns and inus conditions 5.1 Inns conditions of outcome chains: not quite 5.2 Inns conditions of outcome chains 5.3 Inns conditions of scattered outcome events 5.4 Inus conditions for disjunctive outcome events 5.5 Inns and inus conditions of transition events 6. Counterfactual conditionals 7. Appendix: Tense and modal connectives in BST
Causation · Counterfactual thinking · Epistemology · Event (particle physics) · Mathematical economics · Outcome (game theory) · Quantum mechanics · Computer Science · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and Theoretical Science · Quantum Mechanics and Applications · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
Quantum state holism
Transitivity and the ontology of causation
How Causal Probabilities Might Fit into Our Objectively Indeterministic World
Branching space-times
Propensities and probabilities
A letter on the present state of affairs
Newtonian determinism to branching space-times indeterminism in two moves
Counterfactuals and Historical Possibility
Branching in the landscape of possibilities
Funny business in branching space-times
Past, present and future modally introduced
Indeterminism is a modal notion
Probability Theory and Causation
Stochastic Einstein Locality Revisited
| Unique citing works | 14 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,64 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2021 (18) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 11 |