Simplifying Causality: A Brief Review of Philosophical Views and Definitions with Examples from Economics, Education, Medicine, Policy, Physics and Engineering
It provides an introductory review for newcomers to causality and causal inference, but it is incremental as it compiles existing ideas without new research.
This paper compiles simplified philosophical views and definitions of causality, covering four common approaches (Hume's regularity, counterfactual, manipulation, and mechanisms), and supplements them with examples from fields like economics, education, medicine, and physics to aid new readers with little prior knowledge.
This short paper compiles the big ideas behind some philosophical views, definitions, and examples of causality. This collection spans the realms of the four commonly adopted approaches to causality: Humes regularity, counterfactual, manipulation, and mechanisms. This short review is motivated by presenting simplified views and definitions and then supplements them with examples from various fields, including economics, education, medicine, politics, physics, and engineering. It is the hope that this short review comes in handy for new and interested readers with little knowledge of causality and causal inference.