80-827 Topics in the History of Causal Inference

12 units, Carnegie Mellon University

This course will survey philosophical, scientific and theological ideas about the nature of causality and how to discover causal relations, from the 5 th century B.C. until the present, including connections with ethical theories, theological disputes, and the emergence of probability theory, logic, and decision theory. Extensive readings will be assigned but not required, and reading one textbook free online will be required. Impromptu oral quizzes will be given on the topics of the assigned readings participants are free to consult whatever other sources they wish, for example the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ChatGPT, etc. A final paper will be required a referee report on a published paper assigned on methods of causal inference.

Prerequisites: none listed

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