Causal Medical Reasoning. Therapies and Pre-emption

This paper tackles some very specific aspects of the debate on causation, no doubt one of the most fertile and diversified discussions in contemporary philosophy of science. After sketchily recalling the main features of the counterfactual approach, I focus on the notion of pre-emption and its implications. The paper aims to show how such a notion can help us grasp some aspects of causal medical reasoning as implemented in certain therapeutic situations.