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Absence Causation for Causal Dispositionalists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2018

RANDOLPH CLARKE*
Affiliation:
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITYrkclarke@fsu.edu

Abstract

Several theories of causation rule out causation of or by lacks, omissions, or absences of things. They thereby conflict with much of what we think and say about what causes what. This article proposes a modification of one kind of theory, causal dispositionalism, so that it accepts absence causation while retaining a fundamental commitment of dispositionalism.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Philosophical Association 2018 

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Footnotes

Thanks to Rani Lill Anjum, Sara Bernstein, Stephen Kearns, Sam Murray, and Nat Stein for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. Thanks as well to an editor and a referee for this journal, and to an audience at the 2018 Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association.

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