Staff

Publication details for Prof Nancy Cartwright

Cartwright, N. (2016). Single Case Causes: What is Evidence and Why. In Philosophy of Science in Practice: Nancy Cartwright and the Nature of Scientific Reasoning. Chao, H. & Reiss, J. Cham: Springer International Publishing. 11-24.

Publication type: Chapter in book
ISSN/ISBN: 9783319455303 (hardback), 9783319455327 (ebook)
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-45532-7_2
Further publication details on publisher web site
Durham Research Online (DRO) - may include full text

Author(s) from Durham

Prof Nancy Cartwright

Abstract

How do we establish singular causal claims? It seems we do this all the time, from courtrooms to cloud chambers. Nevertheless, there is a strong lobby in the evidence-based medicine and policy movements that argues that we cannot make reliable causal judgments about single cases in these areas. So we cannot tell whether a policy or treatment ‘worked’ for any specific individual. This paper argues the contrary. It provides a catalogue of evidence types that can support singular causal claims, and it develops a theoretical framework that shows that these types are evidence for causation in the single case.