Abstract
Metaphysicians typically distinguish sharply between grounding and causation, and philosophers of science typically distinguish sharply between causal and non-causal explanation, but there has been surprisingly little discussion of how exactly to draw these distinctions. In this paper I argue that six of the most obvious criteria fail to capture the intended distinction between causation and grounding. I propose and defend an alternative criterion in terms of the principles mediating the dependency, and I explore some of the implications of this criterion for the possibility of simultaneous causation in physics.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | The Foundation of Reality |
Subtitle of host publication | Fundamentality, Space and Time |
Editors | David Glick, George Darby, Anna Marmodoro |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Chapter | 2 |
Pages | 46 |
Number of pages | 23 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780198831501 |
Publication status | Published - 20 Apr 2020 |