ZOOM TALK: Dr. Lauren Ross, Causal Varieties: In Science, Law, and Everyday Life

This talk examines different types of causes that present in scientific and everyday life contexts. Such causal diversity is suggested by the language we use when referring to causality in the world—for example, we cite causes that are proximal/distal, strong/weak, fast/slow, predisposing/exciting, and so on. This talk presents a framework that captures these “distinctions among causation” (Woodward 2010, 2022). This work presents a taxonomy of common types of causes, what their features are, and why these types matter. After presenting common causal types from scientific cases, these are considered in the context of legal theory and everyday life contexts.