Abstract
Clearly the concept of a ‘causal process’ has something to do with the concept ‘causation’. Two events, or facts, or states of affairs are connected by the relation causation when the first is the cause of the second and the second is the effect of the first. A causal process, such as an apple decaying, or an atom decaying, or a billiard ball moving across a table, is typically distinguished from a pseudo process, such as a shadow moving or a spot of light moving across a wall. A pseudo process, as distinct from a causal process, does not contribute to the causal structure of the world (Dowe, 1996; Salmon, 1984).
I would like to thank David Armstrong, David Lewis, Hugh Mellor and anonymous referee for comments which have led to improvements to this paper.
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Dowe, P. (1999). Good Connections: Causation and Causal Processes. In: Sankey, H. (eds) Causation and Laws of Nature. Australasian Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9229-1_19
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