“Causalité médicale et déterminants de la santé”

The contribution - appearing in a volume which is meant to continue the series "Histoire de la pensée médicale en Occident" (directed by Mirko D. Grmek, three previous volumes published in 1995, 1997 e 1999) – presents and critically discusses the meanings and uses of the notion of “cause” in the health sciences in the second half of the Twentieth century. Among the issues addressed, the relationships between different conceptions of causation, and causal inference criteria; reductionist and anti-reductionist stances; complex disorders and the identification of social determinants of health and disease.