How are we to understand causal relations and analysis in socialscience? This paper takes R. G. Collingwood’s writing aboutcausation as its point of departure for the answering of thisquestion. Two different kinds of causal relations are distinguishedfrom pseudo-causality; of the former, one is directly connected toreason, the other to our ability to manipulate the world. Theirinterconnection and significance are discussed and theconclusions are drawn that (a) causality belongs to the realm ofhuman praxis and that (b) causal analysis proper is well suited forthe social sciences. It is further showed that some importantexplanations are not causal in any of the above-mentionedsenses. These explanations could conceivably be calledinterpretative descriptions, but it is suggested that perhaps theycan be understood as examples of causa sui, of something selfcaused.
Open Access APC beslut 22/2017