Causal Approaches to Scientific Explanation
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
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CORE DEFINITION
Causal approaches hold that a scientific explanation explains because it identifies the causes or mechanisms producing the phenomenon to be explained. The entry surveys several causal theories of explanation developed in recent decades, including mechanistic accounts, causal-process and causal-interaction views, and interventionist theories. It also examines explanatory depth, the comparison of how much dependence structure an explanation reveals, and non-causal explanations such as mathematical ones.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Demand mechanisms: require an explanation to expose the intermediate steps leading from cause to effect. - Ask counterfactuals: test whether you have found the cause by asking what changes if it changes. - Compare explanatory depth: rank rival explanations by the dependence structure each one reveals.
Anchor fast decisions
Causal explanation draws its force from counterfactual dependence: an explanans must specify how the explanandum would change if the cause changed. Mechanism accounts further require unpacking the intermediate links, the chain of entities and activities between cause and effect. Interventionism formalizes these demands: a good explanation should answer what would happen if we intervened on a variable.
MINIMUM ACTION
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Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/causal-explanation-science/verified
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