What Does It Take to Make a Difference? A Reply to Andreas and Günther

Andreas and Günther have recently proposed a difference-making definition of actual causation. In this paper I show that there exist conclusive counterexamples to their definition, by which I mean examples that are unacceptable to everyone, including Andreas and Günther. Concretely, I show that their definition allows c to cause e even when c is not a causal ancestor of e. I then proceed to identify their non-standard definition of causal models as the source of the problem, and argue that there is no viable strategy open to them to fixing it. I conclude that their definition of causation is damaged beyond repair.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Journal of Philosophy
Published
2025-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5840/jphil202512249
Primary Topic
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

What Does It Take to Make a Difference? A Reply to Andreas and Günther

Sander Beckers
The Journal of Philosophy
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
article

What Does It Take to Make a Difference? A Reply to Andreas and Günther

Sander Beckers
article en

Abstract

Andreas and Günther have recently proposed a difference-making definition of actual causation. In this paper I show that there exist conclusive counterexamples to their definition, by which I mean examples that are unacceptable to everyone, including Andreas and Günther. Concretely, I show that their definition allows c to cause e even when c is not a causal ancestor of e. I then proceed to identify their non-standard definition of causal models as the source of the problem, and argue that there is no viable strategy open to them to fixing it. I conclude that their definition of causation is damaged beyond repair.

The Journal of PhilosophyVol. 122(4)
Openalex Percentile: Top 81%
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
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What Does It Take to Make a Difference? A Reply to Andreas and Günther — Sander Beckers · The Journal of Philosophy (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS