Every day, we deal with causation. We assume that when we shoot a billiard ball against another it will start rolling, we assume that when we smoke we will have a bigger chance of getting lung cancer, and we think about how human activities can impact climate change. In all these cases, we assume that one event A can cause another event B. Dean McHugh, a phd student of philosophy and linguistics, studies how people use words like “because” and “cause” in order to determine how we understand the concept of causation. Different understandings of causation can have practical implications for society, especially in the law. In this episode, we will talk about how the outcome of a lawsuit can depend on how we understand causation. Thijmen Nuninga is finishing his phd in law and gives us many examples of how causation is crucial to determine responsibility. We talk about the Urgenda case and whether the Netherlands is responsible for climate change, about if we can understand discrimination because of sexual orientation as discrimination because of sex, and about how to determine whether a heavy smoker got lung cancer because there was asbestos in his work environment.

Tracklist:

‘Cause I’m a man - Tame Impala

Goed te doen - Meetsysteem

Discoscience - Ventolin