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person1980s-present

James Woodward

Disciplines:
philosophy of science
causation

Summary

American philosopher of science who developed the interventionist theory of causation — causation is analyzed in terms of what would happen under interventions (manipulations) on the cause variable.

Core Contribution

Making Things Happen: the interventionist theory of causation. X causes Y if and only if there is an intervention on X that changes Y. This explains the asymmetry of causation, the relationship to scientific practice, and the difference between causes and mere correlations.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • The interventionist account directly connects causation to scientific practice — the way scientists use manipulation and experimentation to establish causal claims is written into the semantics of causal claims.

Notable Works & Achievements

Making Things Happen

A Philosopher Looks at Science

Historical Influences

Judea Pearl Wesley Salmon

Intellectual Lineage

Analytic Philosophy of Science

Contemporaries & Peers

Judea Pearl Nancy Cartwright

Minds Influenced

Causal Inference ResearchPhilosophy of Neuroscience

Intellectual Posterity

Interventionist Causation

Discussing

James Woodward

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