The Research Seminar Series in Philosophy invites you to a seminar with Bram Vaassen, "Not all kids get medals".
Abstract: This paper develops a novel argument for the view that events compete with their grounds for causal status. The argument shifts the focus from the metaphysical relations between causal relata to the metaphysical relations between the causal relations themselves. In particular, I argue that a proper appreciation of the grounding relations between causal relations reveals that a moderate degree of causal competition between events and their grounds is required to avoid both implausible grounding claims and implausible claims about explanation. These findings put pressure on standard difference-making accounts of causation, as well as proportionality principles and exclusion principles, and might even recommend a return to regularity theories of causation.
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