Third time's a charm: Causation, science and Wittgensteinian pluralism

Pluralism about causation seems to be an attractive option as the term seems to defy analysis in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions. This chapter examines a specific form of conceptual pluralism about causation, one that has been termed 'Wittgensteinian'. The chapter presents three such accounts in detail. All three accounts share the rejection of attempting to define 'cause' in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions, and they regard instances of causal relationships to share family resemblance at best. After criticizing and rejecting two earlier accounts, the chapter develops an alternative that, to the best of current knowledge, does not suffer from the deficiencies of its fellows and is more firmly grounded in some of Wittgenstein's ideas about meaning.

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