Difference-Making without Making a Difference
By Sander Beckers
"Shows that the factual difference-making definition of actual causation from Andreas & Günther actually instantiates factual, counterfactual, and regularity-based types, proving their classification is a distinction without a difference."
Abstract
Over a series of seven papers, Andreas & Günther have introduced seven definitions of actual causation and have classified them as belonging to three different, competing, types of accounts: factual difference-making, counterfactual difference-making, and regularity-based. I show that their most recent - factual difference-making - definition instantiates all three types, thereby proving that these are distinctions without a difference. I further compare their novel account to the other six accounts on several crucial examples, revealing that this undermines all seven of their accounts.