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Absence Causation for Causal Dispositionalists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2018

RANDOLPH CLARKE
RANDOLPH CLARKE*
Affiliation:
FLORIDA STATE [email protected]
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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.

Keywords

absencecausal dispositionalismcausationexplanationpowers
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , Fall 2018 , pp. 323 - 331
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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