Cause by Omission and Norm: Not Watering Plants

Journal Article (Journal Article)

People generally accept that there is causation by omission—that the omission of some events cause some related events. But this acceptance elicits the selection problem, or the difficulty of explaining the selection of a particular omissive cause or class of causes from the causal conditions. Some theorists contend that dependence theories of causation cannot resolve this problem. In this paper, we argue that the appeal to norms adequately resolves the selection problem for dependence theories, and we provide novel experimental evidence for it.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Henne, P; Pinillos, Á; De Brigard, F

Published Date

  • April 3, 2017

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 95 / 2

Start / End Page

  • 270 - 283

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0004-8402

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1080/00048402.2016.1182567

Citation Source

  • Scopus