Title: The Statistics and Metaphysics of Causation

ABSTRACT:

For the last 100 years statisticians have been developing techniques to tease causal conclusions of observational correlational data. For the most part, philosophers have simply ignored these developments. Even when they have taken notice, they have done nothing to related the success of these techniques to the metaphysical nature of causation. Curiously, this silence has been encouraged by the attitude of statisticians like Judea Pearl. The talk will reflect on the puzzling situation.