Absences, Possible Causation, and the Problem of Non-Locality

Abstract

I argue that so-called ‘absence causation’ must be treated in terms of counterfactuals about causation such as ‘had a occurred, a would have caused b’. First, I argue that some theories of causation that accept absence causation are unattractive because they undermine the idea of possible causation. And second, I argue that accepting absence causation violates a principle commonly associated with relativity.