In many scientific efforts, causation at multiple levels is addressed by (a) building separate causal models within each level; (b) identifying constitutive (or other) links between objects or events at different levels; and then (c) using those links to show how causation at the higher levels is “just” the manifestation of causation at lower levels. However, many scientific domains involve significant “across-level” causation where (features of) an individual can have group-level impacts and vice versa. In this chapter, we explore the conceptual, explanatory, and modeling challenges of causation across levels: how we can understand and represent systems in which groups and populations function simultaneously as both aggregations and also individuals. We will focus on methods and examples from the human sciences, primarily building on two case studies: (a) the many levels of features that cause suicide risk in both individuals and communities; and (b) the public health role of structural racism in individual health outcomes.

For more information, please contact Ted Richards rich1079@msu.edu

ZOOM Link: https://msu.zoom.us/j/99329403867
Passcode: Levels

Friday, September 22nd, 2023
3:00 – 5:00 PM
South Kedzie, Room 530
Maralee Harrell is Teaching Professor of Philosophy & Public Health at University of California, San Diego (USA). She is the author of What Is the Argument? (2016; The MIT Press).
David Danks is a Professor of Data Science & Philosophy at University of California, San Diego (USA). He is the author of Unifying the Mind: Cognitive Representations as Graphical Models (2014; The MIT Press).