Causal condition, causal asymmetry, and the counterfactual analysis of causation

Abstract

In a recent paper ‘Causal Asymmetry’, Douglas Ehring has proposed an intriguing solution to the vexing problem of causal asymmetry. The aim of this paper is to show that his theory is not satisfactory. Moreover, the examples that I use in showing the defect of Ehring's theory also indicate that the counterfactual analysis of causation has a problem that cannot be remedied by Marshall Swain's suggested refinement of the counterfactual analysis of causation in ‘Causation and Distinct Events’.