Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: A number of philosophers have recently proposed cases of causal indeterminacy, cases in which there is no determinate fact of the matter concerning what causes what. In the most promising cases of causal indeterminacy, the causes are absences or omissions. This severely limits the scope of causal indeterminacy, especially given that it is disputed whether absences and omissions can be causes. In this paper I do two things. First, I argue that there are cases of causal indeterminacy in which the causes are not absences or omissions, but positive events, that are relevantly analogous to the most prominent cases of causal indeterminacy. Second, I will argue that these cases are in better standing than other putative cases of indeterminate causation involving positive events as causes that have recently been discussed.
Source: Philosophic exchange
Author: Jonas Werner
Institution: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Award: Worldly Indeterminacy
OpenAlex ID: W7204280334