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A Theory of Causation in the Social and Biological SciencesThe Interventionist Theory of Causation

A Theory of Causation in the Social and Biological Sciences: The Interventionist Theory of Causation [In his highly influential book Making Things Happen, James Woodward argues for an interventionist theory of causation. The key idea underlying interventionist accounts is that, roughly, X is a cause of Y iff there is a possible intervention on X that changes Y (see also Chapter 1). An intervention is a manipulation of the cause — and only of the cause — and it is assumed that the manipulation is, in principle, possible. It is important to observe that an intervention is neither restricted to the capabilities of human agents nor is it the case that the concept of human agency and decision-making is necessary for explicating the concept of causation (in this respect, interventionist approaches clearly differ from agency theories of causation such as von Wright 1974, Menzies and Price 1993, cf. Woodward 2003: 103, 123–7).] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Theory of Causation in the Social and Biological SciencesThe Interventionist Theory of Causation

Reutlinger, Alexander
Springer Journals — Oct 6, 2015
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Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Copyright
© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013
ISBN
978-1-349-44799-2
Pages
25 –70
DOI
10.1057/9781137281043_2
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[In his highly influential book Making Things Happen, James Woodward argues for an interventionist theory of causation. The key idea underlying interventionist accounts is that, roughly, X is a cause of Y iff there is a possible intervention on X that changes Y (see also Chapter 1). An intervention is a manipulation of the cause — and only of the cause — and it is assumed that the manipulation is, in principle, possible. It is important to observe that an intervention is neither restricted to the capabilities of human agents nor is it the case that the concept of human agency and decision-making is necessary for explicating the concept of causation (in this respect, interventionist approaches clearly differ from agency theories of causation such as von Wright 1974, Menzies and Price 1993, cf. Woodward 2003: 103, 123–7).]

Published: Oct 6, 2015

Keywords: Bayesian Network; Causal Model; Causal Claim; Counterfactual Dependence; Actual Causation

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