The difference between cause and condition

Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 108 (1pt3):355-364 (2008)
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Abstract

Commonly we distinguish the strike of a match, as a cause of the match lighting, from the presence of oxygen, as a mere condition. In this paper I propose an account of this phenomenon, which I call causal selection. I suggest some reasons for taking causal selection seriously, and indicate some shortcomings of the popular contrastive approach. Chief among these is the lack of an account of contrast choice. I propose that contrast choice is often just the counterfactual scenario in which the effect does not occur: I suggest that if c causes e , then if e hadn't occurred, c wouldn't have occurred. I argue that this is a necessary condition on causation which causes meet but mere conditions fail.

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Alex Broadbent
University of Johannesburg

Citations of this work

Beneficence and procreation.Molly Gardner - 2016 - Philosophical Studies 173 (2):321-336.
Causation and models of disease in epidemiology.Alex Broadbent - 2009 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 40 (4):302-311.
When Good Things Happen to Harmed People.Molly Gardner - 2019 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 22 (4):893-908.
Causes of causes.Alex Broadbent - 2012 - Philosophical Studies 158 (3):457-476.

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References found in this work

Inference to the Best Explanation.Peter Lipton - 1991 - London and New York: Routledge.
Causation.David Lewis - 1973 - Journal of Philosophy 70 (17):556-567.
Philosophical Guide to Conditionals.Jonathan Bennett - 2003 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press UK.
An enquiry concerning human understanding.David Hume - 2000 - In Steven M. Cahn, Exploring Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press USA. pp. 112.

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