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Local causation.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Abstract

The counterfactual and regularity theories are universal accounts of causation. I argue that these should be generalized to produce local accounts of causation. A hallmark of universal accounts of causation is the assumption that apparent variation in causation between locations must be explained by differences in background causal conditions, by features of the causal-nexus or causing-complex. The local account of causation presented here rejects this assumption, allowing for genuine variation in causation to be explained by differences in location. I argue that local accounts of causation are plausible, and have pragmatic, empirical and theoretical advantages over universal accounts. I then report on the use of presheaves as models of local causation. The use of presheaves as models of local variation has precedents in algebraic geometry, category theory and physics; they are here used as models of local causal variation. The paper presents this idea as stemming from an approach using presheaves as models of local truth. Finally, I argue that a proper balance between universal and local causation can be assuaged by moving from presheaves to fully-fledged sheaf models.

Description

Funder: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000155


Funder: Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003343

Keywords

Causation, Counterfactuals, Locality, Regularities, Sheaf models

Journal Title

Synthese

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0039-7857
1573-0964

Volume Title

199

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), doctoral fellowship. Cambridge European and International Trust, doctoral fellowship.