Last update:
16-Jun-2006

The causality debate has centered on two issues, the metaphysical, and the epistemic. The metaphysical issue concerns the nature of the connection between cause and effect: how and in virtue of what does the cause bring about the effect? The epistemic issue concerns the possibility of causal knowledge: how, if at all, can causal knowledge be obtained? The answers to these questions could define the content of the concept of causality. This survey offers a broad historical and systematic overview of the concept of causality. It starts with Aristotle's view that the search for causal knowledge is the distinctive characteristic of science, and moves on to present Descartes' transference model of causality. It then discusses the various accounts of causality that emerged within Cartesianism and analyses Hume's regularity theory. It examines Mill's development of the Humean view and the reception of the Humean view in the twentieth century. It presents and discusses some central current approaches to causality and in particular the manipulationist, the conserved-quantity, the counterfactual and the probabilistic approaches. This survey also discusses the links between causality and explanation and the role of the laws of nature in causality.

Key words: Causality, Cause, Effect, Explanation, Laws of nature.