The nature and significance of temporal-causal reasoning

When a sequence of events happens, the overall outcome of the sequence typically depends not just on the nature of each of those events themselves, but also on the order in which they occur. Call that aspect of causal reasoning that is specifically concerned with the causal significance of the order of events in a sequence temporal-causal reasoning. Temporal-causal reasoning has received relatively little attention in the existing literature on causal cognition in philosophy and psychology. However, I think a case can be made that (a) it constitutes a distinctive type of causal reasoning ability that cannot be reduced to more basic forms of causal cognition, and that (b) it in fact plays a central role in our grasp of both temporal and causal concepts. The principal aim of the research leave is to work out a systematic account of the nature and significance of temporal-causal reasoning in the context of looking at a number of relatively self-contained existing philosophical debates concerning temporal and causal thought.