CAUSAL EXPLANATION IN THE SPECIAL SCIENCES: TWO MODELS

Abstract

This paper argues against the assimilation of two models of causation and causal explanation within the physicalist camp. One of them is Jaegwon Kim´s model of supervenient causation; the other is Frank Jackson´s and Philip Pettit´s model of programme explanation. Assimilating moves have been made on both sides. This paper aims to show that these moves are flawed because differences between the models can easily be shown once the supervenience theses laying behind them are reconstructed. This initial difference is shown to entail several further discrepancies. At the end of this paper, we try to make sense of `causal relevance,´ on which the idea of a programme explanation rests, in order to prevent further attempts to assimilate the two models.