I present an alternative account of causation in the biomedical and social sciences according to which the meaning of causal claims is given by their inferential relations to other claims. Specifically, I will argue that causal claims are (typically) inferentially related to certain evidential claims as well as claims about explanation, prediction, intervention and responsibility. I explain in some detail what it means for a claim to be inferentially related to another and finally derive some implication of the proposed account for the epistemology, semantics and metaphysics of causation.

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doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2012.05.005, hdl.handle.net/1765/39320
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C :Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Erasmus Research Institute of Management

Reiss, J. (2012). Causation in the sciences: An inferentialist account. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C :Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 43(4), 769–777. doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2012.05.005