Metaphysics and Epistemology Group (Tuesday - Week 6, HT25)

Abstract: How do we best measure degrees of causation? Dependence theorists say that the strength of a cause is given by the difference it makes (e.g. Northcott 2008). Such theories often yield counterintuitive conclusions in overdetermination and pre-emption cases. Production theorists instead argue that we can measure an event’s causal contribution to an effect by considering the number of sets of actual events sufficient for the effect where the cause is necessary for that sufficiency (e.g. Braham and van Hees 2009, Kaiserman 2016). Such theories typically run into problems in pre-emption and switching cases. Moreover, and generally, it is unclear whether the amount of casual contribution is a matter of how close the cause comes to being necessary or minimally sufficient for the effect. These are the necessity and sufficiency criteria for causal contributions (Bernstein 2017, Sartorio 2020). I propose an account that combines dependence and minimal sufficiency theories. The account avoids giving the mentioned counterintuitive implications. It posits that the causal contribution of C to E is a function of the difference to E’s security made by C (a dependency measure) if C is process-connected to E (a production requirement). The function can be modified to capture both the necessity and sufficiency criteria for causal contributions.