We have the pleasure to invite You for a research seminar in the ‘BIOUNCERTAINTY’ research project. The subject of the seminar is 'The meaning of causal claims in medicine: causal inferences and policy implications'. The seminar will take place on Thursday, 9th of January, at 5:30pm in room 25 of the Institute of Philosophy, 52 Grodzka Street.

Abstract

The purpose of my talk is twofold. First, I argue that medicine accepts moderate causal pluralism as an epistemic definition of causality. Using the approach of referentialist semantics to reconstruct the meaning of causal claims, I deliver four in-depth case studies of recent biomedical research that implicitly accept different definitions of causality. Second, I investigate the implications of pluralism for clinical practice. I differentiate among ‘actions’ that do not change the relata of causal claims, (mechanistic) ‘interferences,’ and ‘interventions’ sensu stricto that act on causes to change effects. My central claim is that causal claims presupposing diverse concepts of causality can deliver evidence for different types of evidence-based policy.