Deterministic and probabilistic causation
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Determinism is the philosophical view that past events and the laws of nature fix or set future events. The interest of determinism in analytic philosophy primarily lies in whether determinism is an accurate description of how the world’s events proceed.
Probabilistic causation is a concept in a group of philosophical theories that aim to characterize the relationship between cause and effect using the tools of probability theory. The central idea behind these theories is that causes raise the probabilities of their effects, all else being equal.
Interpreting causation as a deterministicrelation means that if A causes B, then A must always be followed by B. In this sense, war does not cause deaths, nor does smokingcause cancer. As a result, many turn to a notion of probabilistic causation. Informally, Aprobabilistically causes B if A's occurrence increases the probability of B. This is sometimes interpreted to reflect imperfect knowledge of a deterministic system but other times interpreted to mean that the causal system under study has an inherently indeterministic nature.
Probabilistic causation is a concept in a group of philosophical theories that aim to characterize the relationship between cause and effect using the tools of probability theory. The central idea behind these theories is that causes raise the probabilities of their effects, all else being equal.
Interpreting causation as a deterministicrelation means that if A causes B, then A must always be followed by B. In this sense, war does not cause deaths, nor does smokingcause cancer. As a result, many turn to a notion of probabilistic causation. Informally, Aprobabilistically causes B if A's occurrence increases the probability of B. This is sometimes interpreted to reflect imperfect knowledge of a deterministic system but other times interpreted to mean that the causal system under study has an inherently indeterministic nature.
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