ABSTRACT
Scholars engaged in biomedical and social research (BSR) often seek to establish causal laws. What I mean by a causal law is a statement of the form, ‘X causes Y’, where both X and Y refer to type-level variables, factors, or properties that can be instantiated multiple times rather than single instantiations of these: ‘Smoking causes cardiovascular disease’; ‘Inactivity causes obesity’; ‘Inequality inhibits growth’; or ‘Class size affects educational attainment’. 2
