Holes, Absence Causation and the Problem of Profligacy

Abstract In this paper I offer a defence of absence causation in response to a central challenge: the problem of profligacy. Focussing on two related cases of absence causation, holes and surface absences, the account of absence causation offered for these cases has the following attractions: it captures the central features of many of our common-sense judgments about absence causation in these cases; it doesn’t appeal to norms; and is grounded in salient features of the metaphysics of the cases. As such, there’s a metaphysically respectable, principled criterion for absence causation that solves the problem of profligacy for these cases.