Causality and evidence discovery in epidemiology

Michael Joffe

pp. 153-166

in: Dennis Dieks, Stephan Hartmann, Thomas Uebel, Marcel Weber, Wenceslao J. Gonzalez (eds), Explanation, prediction, and confirmation, Berlin, Springer, 2011

Abstract

In a classic 1965 paper, Bradford Hill set out his famous viewpoints – explicitly not "criteria" – as a guide to inferring causation from association. It was written very much in a practical style on the basis of his rich experience, without any attempt at a profound conceptual analysis. This paper sets out a view of causality, and attempts to make the case that it provides a systematic rationale for these viewpoints, or at least is compatible with them.