Caroline Touborg, Causation and possibility horizons

The Research Seminar Series in Philosophy invites you to a seminar with Caroline Touborg, "Causation and possibility horizons".

Abstract: The assertability of causal claims exhibits a number of sensitivities: it is sensitive to contrasts, focus, context and to the causal inquiry. Schaffer’s proposal that causation is a contrastive relation accommodates the sensitivity to contrasts and focus. However, it cannot accommodate the sensitivity to context and to the causal inquiry. In this talk, I present a new way to accommodate these sensitivities. The key to my proposal is the notion of a possibility horizon, where a possibility horizon is simply a class of possible worlds. In brief, I propose that causation has a possibility horizon as an additional relatum. Correspondingly, I propose that a complete causal claim takes the form ‘c (rather than c*) is a cause of e (rather than e*) within possibility horizon H’. This proposal fully explains the sensitivities. In addition, it fits within a plausible semantic framework, offering a treatment of ‘cause’ that parallels Kratzer’s standard treatment of modals such as ‘must’, ‘might’, ‘ought’, ‘should’, and ‘can’.

All interested are welcome to participate in this seminar.

This seminar is held online in Zoom. Link for participation will be distributed by email to the seminar distribution list. If you wish to participate but are not on this list you can get the link by contacting Pär Sundström, see below.