Causality

Causality is the relation in which one event or condition produces or contributes to another. It distinguishes causal influence from mere association or temporal succession.

Causal mechanism: A process through which a cause produces an effect. Mechanisms describe the intermediate steps connecting a cause to its outcome.
Correlation: A statistical relationship in which two variables change together. Correlation alone does not establish that either variable causes the other.
Randomized controlled trial: An experiment that randomly assigns participants to treatment and comparison groups. Random assignment helps estimate treatment effects by balancing confounding factors.
Humean theory of causation: An account of causation grounded in patterns of regular succession rather than observable necessary connections. It challenges the idea that causal power is directly visible in events.
Causal overdetermination: A case in which multiple causes independently suffice to produce the same outcome. It complicates counterfactual tests because removing one cause may leave the outcome unchanged.
Counterfactual: A statement about what would have happened under conditions different from those that occurred. Causal effects can be defined by comparing an outcome with its counterfactual alternative.
Temporal precedence: The condition that a proposed cause occurs before its effect. Causes ordinarily precede their effects, but sequence alone does not prove causation.
Natural experiment: An observational study using an external event or rule that creates treatment-like variation. It can approximate an experiment when deliberate randomization is impractical.
Counterfactual theory of causation: An account that analyzes causation through whether an outcome would differ if a candidate cause were absent. It defines causal dependence through alternatives to the actual history.
Causal preemption: A case in which one cause produces an outcome before another potential cause can do so. It tests whether causal accounts can distinguish actual causes from redundant alternatives.

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