Restricted Causal Relevance

Strand, Anders; Oftedal, Gry

doi:10.1093/bjps/axx034

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Two important features of causal relationships-stability and invariance 8 introduced in the section 8 Stability and invariance are just two of many features that philosophers have discussed as being important to causality and causal explanation. For a discussion on the limitations of these features, see Strand and Oftedal (2019) and Oftedal (2020).…”

Section: Polygenic Traits: Family-based Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Meaning of “Cause” in Genetics

Lynch

2021

Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Causation has multiple distinct meanings in genetics. One reason for this is meaning slippage between two concepts of the gene: Mendelian and molecular. Another reason is that a variety of genetic methods address different kinds of causal relationships. Some genetic studies address causes of traits in individuals, which can only be assessed when single genes follow predictable inheritance patterns that reliably cause a trait. A second sense concerns the causes of trait differences within a population. Whereas some single genes can be said to cause population-level differences, most often these claims concern the effects of many genes. Polygenic traits can be understood using heritability estimates, which estimate the relative influences of genetic and environmental differences to trait differences within a population. Attempts to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying polygenic traits have been developed, although causal inference based on these results remains controversial. Genetic variation has also recently been leveraged as a randomizing factor to identify environmental causes of trait differences. This technique-Mendelian randomization-offers some solutions to traditional epidemiological challenges, although it is limited to the study of environments with known genetic influences.Additionally, the way that people interpret genetic information is influenced by biases and aspects of our cognition. This is true for both laypeople and professionals who are educated about genetics. (For a review, see Lynch et al. 2019.

show abstract

Section: Polygenic Traits: Family-based Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Meaning of “Cause” in Genetics

Lynch

2021

Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In a recent paper I, in collaboration with Anders Strand, suggest an alternative way of defining, evaluating, and explicating differences between causal explanations in an interventionist framework (Strand and Oftedal 2019). Rather than defining one concept of cause and add a discussion of a range of possible explanatory differences among them with regard to features such as stability, specificity, and proportionality, we define many different causal concepts by applying various restrictions to a minimal definition of cause.…”

Section: Conclusive Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%