Cohesive proportionality

Proportionality-the idea that causes are neither too general nor too specific for their effects-seems to recommend implausibly disjunctive causes (McGrath, 1998; Shapiro & Sober, 2012; Franklin-Hall, 2016). I argue that this problem should be avoided by appeal to the notion of cohesion. I propose an account of cohesion in terms of the similarity structure of property-spaces, argue that it is not objectionably mysterious, and that alternative approaches-based on naturalness, interventionism, and contrastivism-are inadequate without appeal to it. In an appendix, I show how my proposal can be perspicuously formalized by adapting structural equation models.

Automated summary

This article discusses the concepts of proportionality and cohesion. The author explains cohesion in terms of the similarity structure of property-spaces and argues that alternative approaches based on naturalness, interventionism, and contrastivism are inadequate.