The notion of cause is one of the most common yet thorniest concepts in the history of philosophy. This should come as no surprise. Questions of causation tie up with such divisive issues as determinism and moral responsibility, as well as with the principle of the causal closure of the physical universe and the possibility of divine action. Furthermore, causation is intimately intertwined with the notion of change. Together these two notions stood at the cradle of such momentous intellectual traditions as Western philosophy in Asia Minor, the Vedic hymns and the Upanishads in Central and South Asia, and early Buddhism along the borders of the ancient Ganges. They constituted the first and fundamental challenge to systematic thought, inspiring a variety of solutions still resonating in intellectual debates.

People use causal idiom in everyday life with great ease, yet upon closer scrutiny this family of notions seems to defy...