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- Title
FUNCTIONAL RELATIONS IN CAUSAL ANALYSIS.
- Authors
Majone, Giandomenico
- Abstract
In its etymology, "cause" is derived from the latin "causa", a legal term meaning lawsuit or judicial process to determine somebody's responsibility. Even today, the term "cause", and its derivatives, is firmly embedded in western jurisprudence. Thus, in many legal cases such as cancer suits against tobacco companies, the key question is that of "causation in fact", i.e., whether the event would have occurred but for the defendant's conduct. It is natural that a term whose origin goes back to legal practice in ancient Rome should be encrusted with all kinds of meaning. But to reject its use because some of these meanings are today unacceptable is like refusing Bayesian methods in statistics because of the questionable use in the past of the so-called Bayes' postulate. In explanatory models, each relation states something about directions of influence among variables. In such models, functional relations among the relevant variables do not tell the whole story; the scientist adds an element of asymmetry by offering his own causal interpretation. In the field of human affairs, economic planning for growth offers an outstanding example of the use of explanatory models. Here one of the most important questions is the analysis of causal relations among the economic variables.
- Subjects
ETYMOLOGY; CALCULUS of variations; TOBACCO industry; BAYESIAN analysis; PRIMITIVE law; FUNCTIONAL analysis; CAUSATION (Philosophy)
- Publication
Quality & Quantity, 1967, Vol 1, Issue 1/2, p153
- ISSN
0033-5177
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/BF00736612