ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that a would-be science of the social can neither escape making causal assertions nor justify empirically the choice of any one causal location with a determinate causal style and power. The idea of causation is protean; it changes reference with the object of inquiry. Among the "simple" ideas of causation, two styles have been employed: a compound mode; and plural causation. In a compound mode, two or more variables have to occur in concert to generate the effect that interests scientists. Plural causation refers to the possibility that several factors, in varied combinations, can produce the same result. The chapter lists some causes of causal thinking. The purpose in recording some of the contexts in which causal assignment occurs is to rebut the sophomoric notion that, in the social realm, there is only one determinate conception of how events are produced.
