Sufficient Causes and the Intrinsicness of Causation
Final Report Abstract
The initial aim of the project was to develop a notion of sufficient causation and to explore the connections between this analysis and pertinent debates in the philosophical literature, notably the causal exclusion problem and the idea that causation allows for degrees. In the course of the project, it turned out, however, that at least in the framework of an interventionist theory of causation, the causal exclusion problem in its traditional form does not occur any longer. Moreover, first developing a theory of graded causation and considering sufficient causation a limiting case thereof turned out to be the more promising approach to analyzing these two philosophically important notions. After returning to the University of Cologne, I became PI of a project on ‘Properties and Property Individuation’, which is part of the DFG-funded research unit Inductive Metaphysics: Articulation, Application and Challenges. The aim of this project is to develop a causal theory of properties, including dispositional properties that allow for degrees. This new project requires a theory of graded causation and, hence, draws directly on results of the previous project. Moreover, it also aims at further developing interventionist approaches to causation, and some of the results obtained during my stay at Rutgers constitute the basis of this research.
