INDUCTIVE METAPHYSICS
  • Subprojects 2017-2020
    • A1: The Research Programme of Inductive Metaphysics from Gustav Theodor Fechner to Erich Becher and beyond
    • A2: Creative Abductive Inference and Its Role for Inductive Metaphysics in Comparison to Other Metaphysical Methods
    • A4: Kant and Inductive Methods in 18th Century Metaphysics
    • B1: Modality in Physics and in Metaphysics
    • B2: Properties and Property Individuation
    • B4: Determinism, Control, and the Consequence Argument
    • B5: Statistical Causation, Intervention, and Freedom
  • Subprojects 2020-2023
    • A1: Inductive Metaphysics and Logical Empiricism
    • A2: Creative Abductive Inference and its Role for Inductive Metaphysics
    • A4: Inductive Methods in Kant and Neo-Kantianism
    • B6: The Role of Inference to the best explanation in the discovery of Gravitational Waves
    • B7: Graded Causation
    • B8: The Time of science and the time of our lives
    • B9: Complex biological dispositions: a case study in the metaphysics of biological practice
    • B10: Metaphysics of Evolution: justification and ontology of generalized evolution theory
    • B11: Abductive Methodology in the philosophy of logic
  • Events
    • Inductive Metaphysics: Insights, Challenges and Prospects
    • Non-Reductionism in the Metaphysics of Mind
    • Essences, Dispositions and Laws in Kant
    • The Methodology of Logic: Abductivist and Non-abductivist Approaches
    • Grounding and the Direction of Explanation
    • Wochenendseminar zur Philosophie der Physik
    • Dispositions in the Life-Sciences Contemporary and Historical Perspectives
    • New Work on Induction and Abduction
    • Compatibilist Libertarianism: Advantages and Challenges
    • Metaphysics as Modelling. Contemporary and Kantian Issues
    • Laws and Explanations in Metaphysics and Science
    • Causation and Responsibility
    • Thinking About the Cultural Evolution of Thinking
    • Causal Distinctions: Specificity and Beyond
    • Free Will and Causality
    • Epistemic Engineering
    • Counterpossibles, Counternomics and Causal Theories of Properties
    • The Possibility of Metaphysics
    • Abduction and Modelling in Metaphysics
    • Kant's Concepts of Metaphysics
    • Freedom and Determinism
    • What Do We Do When We Do Metaphysics?
    • Properties and Laws in the Light of Inductive Metaphysics
    • Free Will and Laws of Nature
    • Traditional and Inductive Metaphysics
    • Spacetime: Fundamental or Emergent?
  • People
  • Research
    • Publications
    • Talks
  • Contact

Graded Causation

PI: Prof. Dr. Vera Hoffmann-Kolss (Bern)
Dr. Matthias Rolffs (Bern)
Elisabeth Muchka (Bern)

The aim of project B7 "Graded Causation" is to develop a theory of degrees of causation. Many contexts seem to imply that causation allows for degrees. For instance, if two companies jointly cause some environmental damage, we are often not only interested in whether they both contributed to the damage, but also in how large their contribution was. Such questions are closely related to questions of responsibility ascription, since it is prima facie plausible to assume that the degree to which agents can be held responsible for an outcome depends, at least to a certain extent, on how much they causally contributed to it. A further crucial question is how to deal with degrees of causation in overdetermination scenarios, since extant theories of degrees of causation typically imply that causal contribution will decrease if more overdetermining causes are present. However, if degrees of causation have an impact on degrees of responsibility, this consequence seems problematic.
The working hypothesis of this project is that an adequate theory of graded causation should satisfy two types of adequacy conditions: (i) conditions stemming from empirical results concerning the relationship between causal and normative judgements, and (ii) conditions imposed by metaphysical considerations concerning the relationship between causation and responsibility. The overarching goal is to develop a quantitative measure of gradedc ausation that takes both types of adequacy conditions into account.
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  • Subprojects 2017-2020
    • A1: The Research Programme of Inductive Metaphysics from Gustav Theodor Fechner to Erich Becher and beyond
    • A2: Creative Abductive Inference and Its Role for Inductive Metaphysics in Comparison to Other Metaphysical Methods
    • A4: Kant and Inductive Methods in 18th Century Metaphysics
    • B1: Modality in Physics and in Metaphysics
    • B2: Properties and Property Individuation
    • B4: Determinism, Control, and the Consequence Argument
    • B5: Statistical Causation, Intervention, and Freedom
  • Subprojects 2020-2023
    • A1: Inductive Metaphysics and Logical Empiricism
    • A2: Creative Abductive Inference and its Role for Inductive Metaphysics
    • A4: Inductive Methods in Kant and Neo-Kantianism
    • B6: The Role of Inference to the best explanation in the discovery of Gravitational Waves
    • B7: Graded Causation
    • B8: The Time of science and the time of our lives
    • B9: Complex biological dispositions: a case study in the metaphysics of biological practice
    • B10: Metaphysics of Evolution: justification and ontology of generalized evolution theory
    • B11: Abductive Methodology in the philosophy of logic
  • Events
    • Inductive Metaphysics: Insights, Challenges and Prospects
    • Non-Reductionism in the Metaphysics of Mind
    • Essences, Dispositions and Laws in Kant
    • The Methodology of Logic: Abductivist and Non-abductivist Approaches
    • Grounding and the Direction of Explanation
    • Wochenendseminar zur Philosophie der Physik
    • Dispositions in the Life-Sciences Contemporary and Historical Perspectives
    • New Work on Induction and Abduction
    • Compatibilist Libertarianism: Advantages and Challenges
    • Metaphysics as Modelling. Contemporary and Kantian Issues
    • Laws and Explanations in Metaphysics and Science
    • Causation and Responsibility
    • Thinking About the Cultural Evolution of Thinking
    • Causal Distinctions: Specificity and Beyond
    • Free Will and Causality
    • Epistemic Engineering
    • Counterpossibles, Counternomics and Causal Theories of Properties
    • The Possibility of Metaphysics
    • Abduction and Modelling in Metaphysics
    • Kant's Concepts of Metaphysics
    • Freedom and Determinism
    • What Do We Do When We Do Metaphysics?
    • Properties and Laws in the Light of Inductive Metaphysics
    • Free Will and Laws of Nature
    • Traditional and Inductive Metaphysics
    • Spacetime: Fundamental or Emergent?
  • People
  • Research
    • Publications
    • Talks
  • Contact