Can Counterpossibles Solve the Interventionist Exclusion Problem?

Hoffmann-Kolss, Vera (23 October 2020). Can Counterpossibles Solve the Interventionist Exclusion Problem? (Unpublished). In: Online-Workshop "Causal Distinctions: Specificity and Beyond". University of Cologne. 23.10.2020.

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In this paper, I explore a new route to solving the so-called interventionist exclusion problem. According to the standard version of this problem, higher-level variables occurring in an interventionist causal model are causally pre-empted by the lower-level variables upon which they supervene because it is metaphysically impossible to intervene on the higher-level variables while keeping the values of the lower-level variables fixed. The recent debate on interventionism and causal models has shown, however, that such counterpossible interventions occur quite frequently in scientific reasoning and are also less problematic than is usually assumed. But once counterpossible interventions are permitted, there is no good reason to ban them from causal-exclusion contexts. The upshot of the argument will be that even though higher-level properties are not causally autonomous in the standard sense of the word, they are autonomous in the sense that higher-level and lower-level properties enter into different counterpossible relations.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Division/Institute:	06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institute of Philosophy 06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institute of Philosophy > Theoretical Philosophy
UniBE Contributor:	Hoffmann-Kolss, Vera
Subjects:	100 Philosophy 100 Philosophy > 110 Metaphysics
Language:	English
Submitter:	Vera Caroline Ruth Hoffmann-Kolss
Date Deposited:	14 May 2021 10:31
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 15:50
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/154917