“Causal Pluralism and Context”

The paper heralds a pluralistic approach that combines the mechanical and manipulative theories of causality, aware of the intrinsic context dependence of causal attributions. It is argued that the assumptions underpinning causal attributions and the restrictions imposed upon them within various contexts should be taken into account, and the same holds for the nature of the information available. Similarly, the aims to which causal discourse is put within a given context should be considered, especially in connection with explanation, prediction and manipulation. Instead of giving a univocal definition of causality, one should start from a careful consideration of the context surrounding causal analysis, and proceed from there to a characterization of causal relations within a given context.