Causation in the Social Realm

Abstract

AbstractExplanation is at the center of scientific research, and explanation almost always involves the discovery of causal relations among factors, conditions, or events. This is true in the social sciences no less than in the natural sciences. But social causes look quite a bit different from causes of natural phenomena. They result from the choices and actions of numerous individuals rather than fixed natural laws, and the causal pathways that link antecedents to consequents are less exact than those linking gas leaks to explosions. It is, therefore, a crucial challenge for the philosophy of social science to give a compelling account of causal reasoning about social phenomena that does justice to the research problems faced by social scientists.