This seminar will focus on contemporary discussions in analytic metaphysics concerning the nature of causation and counterfactual analysis of causation.  We will consider a number of questions, including the following: 

We will be working through two anthologies that contain classic and recent treatments of these issues.  It is the goal of this seminar to familiarize students with the range of positions regarding the nature of causation and to deepen their appreciation of the philosophical problems attendant to any attempt to understand causation, the cement of the universe.