Causality and Causal Inference in Medicine

Interactions between the philosophy of causality and investigations of inferential practices in the sciences, particularly medicine, have yielded key developments across disciplines. One such example is evidential pluralism, arguing for broadening the evidence range beyond difference-making to overcome the rigidity of evidence-based medicine. Further interdisciplinary engagements can assess the adequacy of different philosophical analyses of causation and corresponding causal concepts with respect to particular scientific problems or areas or draw on practices from the sciences to adjust the philosophical toolkit. At the same time, there are also challenges to address, such as working across areas with different, sometimes conflicting, methods and approaches. This conference aims to bring together current research dealing with causality and inferential practices in the health sciences, broadly construed, welcoming philosophical, methodological, and scientific contributions, among others.

Keynote speakers:

Jonathan Fuller (University of Pittsburgh)

Naja Hulvej Rod (University of Copenhagen)

Saana Jukola (University of Twente)

Local organizing team: Cristina Barés Gómez, Matthieu Fontaine, Elena Popa, Quentin Ruyant.

This conference is the 16th in the series of Causality in the Sciences conferences. Steering committee: Phyllis Illari, Science & Technology Studies, UCL; Samantha Kleinberg, Computer Science, Stevens; Bert Leuridan, Philosophy, Antwerp; Julian Reiss: Philosophy, Linz; Federica Russo: History and Philosophy of Science, Utrecht; Erik Weber: Philosophy, Ghent; Jon Williamson: Philosophy, Manchester.  

Funding and organization

• Proyecto del Ministerio Generación del conocimiento  PID2024-157876NA-I00. Logic of Medical Reasoning. The Role of Abductive and Causal Hypotheses (LOGMED). PIs: C. Barés and M. Fontaine.
• Project Ramón y Cajal 2024/0000105. PI: Elena Popa. Reference: RYC2023-043790-I.
• Project Ramón y Cajal PI: Quentin Ruyant. Reference: RYC2023-042844-I.