Newsletter of Phenomenology

Keeping phenomenologists informed since May 2002

234909

(2016) Synthese 193 (4).

The problem of variable choice

James Woodward

pp. 1047-1072

This paper explores some issues about the choice of variables for causal representation and explanation. Depending on which variables a researcher employs, many causal inference procedures and many treatments of causation will reach different conclusions about which causal relationships are present in some system of interest. The assumption of this paper is that some choices of variables are superior to other choices for the purpose of causal analysis. A number of possible criteria for variable choice are described and defended within a broadly interventionist approach to causation.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/s11229-015-0810-5

Full citation:

Woodward, J. (2016). The problem of variable choice. Synthese 193 (4), pp. 1047-1072.

This document is unfortunately not available for download at the moment.