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Roberta Ballarin - Disjunctive Effects and the Logic of Causation
Roberta Ballarin (University of British Columbia) will give talk on the metaphysics of causation.
Speaker: Roberta Ballarin (University of British Columbia)
Title: Disjunctive Effects and the Logic of Causation
Venue: Sala Rossa, III floor, via Azzo Gardino 23, Bologna
Date: 15/12/2011
Time: 15-18
Abstract
We argue in favor of merely disjunctive effects, that is cases in which though an event or fact C is not a cause of an effect E1 and is also not a cause of a distinct effect E2, it is nonetheless the case that C is a cause of the disjunctive effect (E1 or E2). The endorsement of disjunctive effects lets us retain the additivity and the distributivity of causation. According to additivity, if C is a cause of E1 and C is a cause of E2, then C is a cause of (E1 and E2). According to distributivity, if C is a cause of (E1 and E2) then C is a cause of E1 and C is a cause E2. We draw an analogy between causation and traditional intensional notions like believing, wanting, and owing which also admit of merely disjunctive cases. We argue that the traditional Lewisian counterfactual account of causation, including its recent emendation by Sartorio, as well as a contrastive account of causation fail to properly account for this phenomenon.