ABSTRACT
The application of Evidential Pluralism to the social sciences has been contested. In this chapter, we defend Evidential Pluralism by responding to four potential objections to Evidential Pluralism. The first two objections concern the necessity and sufficiency of evidence of correlation and of mechanisms in establishing and assessing causal claims: an objection that establishing correlation and mechanism is not sufficient to establish causation, and an objection that establishing both correlation and mechanism is not necessary for establishing causation. Next, we address an objection that appeals to causal pluralism---the view that there are multiple concepts of cause in use in the social sciences. Finally, we respond to concerns about how to define ‘mechanism’ in the social sciences.
