Last update:
12-Nov-2004

Event causation has been a primary focus of scientific and epistemological discussion in the recent period but its analysis has been controversial. The following four approaches have been prominent: regularity analysis, counterfactual analysis, manipulation analysis, and the probabilistic analysis. According to a very popular form of nomological analysis, the cause of a phenomenon is the events that are described in the set of antecedent conditions of a correct causal explanation of this phenomenon (the semantic concept of causation). The semantic concept of causation is opposite to that used in everyday life, the pragmatistic concept of causation. Mackie offered a methodical analysis of the pragmatistic concept of causation, according to which the cause of an event (P) is usually another event (A) that fulfil the "INUS condition": That is, A is an insufficient but necessary component of a minimal condition, which is unnecessary but sufficient for P to take place. Mackie makes it clear that a cause is not always an INUS condition. A could be the cause of P also in those situations where (a) A is a component of the only minimal sufficient condition, (b) A is a minimal sufficient condition by itself, or (c) A is the only minimal sufficient condition. The term "at least INUS condition" is used to include all cases in which A is a cause of P. Rothman introduced a pragmatistic approach to the concept of causation in the health sciences, the model of "causal pie" which has many similarities with the "at least INUS condition" model. According to the "causal pie" model, cause is an event that alone, or in conjunction with other events, causes a disease. The minimal set of components which inevitably causes the disease is the sufficient cause, and each component is a component cause. The basic difference is that the first model refers directly to deterministic laws, whereas the second refers only indirectly to those laws. The "at least INUS condition" model could be used to fill out the "causal pie" model, providing a complete model of causation which could offer more profound understanding of the concept of cause in the health sciences.

Key words: "Causal pie" model, Component cause, INUS condition, Necessary cause, Necessary condition, Sufficient cause, Sufficient condition.