Causal exclusion

Kim s exclusion/supervenience argument poses central problems for any nonreductive physicalist position. This argument relies on Kim s principle of causal exclusion or the exclusion principle. Kim s most recent formulation of the principle of causal exclusion holds the following ... 

Principle of causal exclusion. If an event e has a sufficient cause c at t, no event at t distinct from c can be a cause of e (unless this is a genuine case of causal overdetermination) (Kim 2005 17). 

What s really at stake in the causal exclusion debate... 

Conclusion the causal exclusion problem aflfects only higher-t rt/cr properties, not higher-Zefc/ properties. Insofar as the proprietary properties of chemistry, biology, and other special sciences concern objects at higher levels of mereological a regation than do the objects of elementary physics, those properties are safe. As for the higher-order properties, the choice remains stark reduction or elimination. ... 

Altogether, then, what I hope I ve shown is the following two things first, that what s at stake in the causal exclusion debate is not whether mental properties are causally efficacious but whether they are real — whether they represent objective resemblances in the world, autonomous from other, specifically biological resemblances and, second, that mental properties are — if any macroproperties are — real in this sense. 

Walter, S. (2006). Causal exclusion as an argument against non-reductive physi-calism. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 13(1—2), 67—83. 

How does mind fit into nature Philosophy has long been concerned with this question. No contemporary philosopher has done more to clarify it than Jaegwon Kim, a distinguished analytic philosopher specializing in metaphysics and philosophy of mind. With new contributions from an outstanding lineup of eminent scholars, this volume focuses on issues raised in Kim s work. The chapters cluster around two themes first, exclusion, supervenience, and reduction, with attention to the causal exclusion argument for which Kim is widely celebrated, and, second, phenomenal consciousness and qualia, with attention to the prospects for a functionalist account of the mental. This volume is sure to become a major focus of attention and research in the disciplines of metaphysics and philosophy of mind. 

Clinical research coordinators (CRCs) are the research personnel who assist with pahent visits, and perform study-related procedures that do not require a physician (phlebotomy, vital signs, adverse event, and concomitant medicahon discussions, etc.). CRCs provide the PI or physician with data required for interpretation, medical decisions (inclusion/exclusion, dosage adjustment, patient withdrawal, adverse event causality, etc.), and trial oversight. In addition, CRCs are usually responsible for transcribing source documentation (medical records, clinic notes, laboratory reports, etc.) into case report forms (CRF) supplied by the study sponsor. 

Under-reporting, reports of known reactions, and false causality attribution are the common criticisms of spontaneous reporting systems. Several studies show that workload, doubt about causal relationship, and doubt about whether it is worth reporting, are the common reasons for under-reporting. It follows that the attribution of causality is at least as good as any other careful clinical diagnosis, often after the exclusion of other disease (because doctors are less likely to report where there is doubt over causality) if under-reporting is due to workload, then there must be a real motivation to send a report. 

Between February 1999 and July 2001, a total number of 96 patients (52 females, 44 males mean age 31 years), suffering from nasal hyperreactivity symptoms, were enrolled from those attending our ENT Department. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were evaluated examining the description of clinical signs and symptoms, the morphological structure of nasal cavities, and causal factors. 

The purpose of application of factor analysis (FA) is the characterization of complex changes of all observed features in partial systems of the environment by determination of summarized factors which are more comprehensive and causally explicable. The method extracts the essential information from a data set. The exclusive consideration of common factors in the reduced factor analytical solution seems to be particularly promising for the analytical process. The specific variances of the observed features will be separated from the reduced factor analytical results by means of the estimation of the communalities. They do not falsify the influence of the main pollution sources (see also Tab. 7-2). The mathematical fundamentals of FA are explained in detail in Section 5.4.3 (see also [MALINOWSKI, 1991 WEBER, 1986]). 

In the previous, fixed-input determination of the IT bond indices this discontinuity in the transition from the decoupled to the coupled descriptions of the molecular fragments prevents an interpretation of the former as the limiting case of the latter, when all external communications of the subsystem in question become infinitely small. In other words, the fixed-and flexible-input approaches generate the mutually exclusive sets of bond indices, which cannot describe this transition in a continuous ("causal") fashion. As we have demonstrated in the decoupled approach of the preceding section, only the overall input normalization equal to the number of the decoupled orbital subsystems gives rise to the full agreement with the accepted chemical intuition. 

Both chronic human studies and animal studies proved the causal relationship between cumulative UVR exposure and skin cancer (277), particularly non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). The link between the two is also evident from the fact that NMSC is most common on the head, neck, arms, and hands (278, 279). In particular, the correlation between UVR exposure and SCC seems to be very strong. Cutaneous SCC of the head and neck occurs almost exclusively on areas receiving maximal exposure (269,280). The link between BCC and cumulative exposure to UVR is not as evident (270, 281). Although BCC occurs on the face, head, and neck, unlike SCC, its distribution does not correspond well with the areas that receive maximum sun exposure (269). Case-control studies indicated that cumulative sun exposure is the most important risk factor for SCC, whereas inability to tan was the most important risk factor for BCC (270,282,283).Subsequently, it has been suggested that, for BSC, intermittent sun exposure, particularly in the childhood, may be more important than cumulative exposure (282). 

Vigorous controversies notwithstanding, I must begin by acknowledging that the roles of constraint and contingency in evolutionary processes are, of course, not mutually exclusive. In fact they are mutually necessary (Carroll, 2001). Nevertheless, a significant amount of both the scientific and interdisciplinary literature on these issues has been characterized by an unnecessary dichotomization of causal explanations and a regrettable polarization of rhetoric. There are two reasons for this, both of which I hope at least to avoid, if not to redress. 

Postnatal learning processes are also believed to be causally involved in the sexual orientation of some femme lesbians and some exclusive male homosexuals.15 But there is certainly no evidence that any form of sexual orientation is simply a matter of voluntary choice of a lifestyle. Homosexuality, like any sexual orientation, is not a lifestyle it s a sexuality. Some homosexuals lead a so-called homosexual lifestyle and some do not. 

This type of objection to nonreductive materialism is central to the work of Jaegwon Kim. Kim discusses this objection extensively in the various versions of his exclusion argument or supervenience argument. He holds that the only way to give mental properties a causal role is to functionally reduce them to physical properties, since physical causation will always rule out causation in virtue of irreducible mental... 

This chapter has asked whether the anomalism of mental properties rules out causation in virtue of these mental properties. Although this chapter has focused upon Davidson s view in particular, this problem is relevant to all nonreductive materialist views, since all nonreductive materialist views hold that mental properties are anomalous. If all cases of causation are backed by strict causal laws, then it might seem that mental properties can never be causal, since anomalous mental properties will never be part of these strict laws. I have argued however that even if all causation is backed by strict laws, mental properties can still be causal, since strict laws do not rule out causation in virtue of higher-level properties that are not part of those laws. I have raised two possible objections to this last claim, which are discussed in great detail in the next three chapters. Let us now turn to the first of these objections - Jaegwon Kim s exclusion argument. 

By the exclusion principle, we are forced to rule out either the mental property or the physical property as causing the behavior. If we assume closure, then we already know that the behavior has a physical cause, so we cannot rule out the physical property as causal. Thus, we are forced to rule out the mental property as a cause. All the causal work has already been done by the physical property, and there is simply no causal work left for the mental property to do. So, the suggestion goes, the irreducibility of mental properties to physical properties will lead to the causal impotence of mental properties. 

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