Causalité et temporalité du point de vue opérationnel

The manipulability theory of causality provides a simple explanation of the fact that the cause occurs before the effect. However, the existence of cases in which cause and effect are simultaneous is as problematic for this as for any other conception of causality. This paper attempts to solve this problem by extending the relativity of causal relations, upheld by some scholars, to the temporal aspect of these relations: both are relative to our purposes, interests and aims. However, this does not exclude the objective or, in Salmon’s terms, ‘ontic’ character of causal relations.