The concept of causation is fundamental to ascribing moral and legal responsibility for events. Yet the precise relationship between causation and responsibility remains unclear. This book clarifies that relationship through an analysis of the best accounts of causation in metaphysics, and a critique of the confusion in legal doctrine.

I. THE ROLE OF CAUSATION IN MORAL AND LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY; II. PRESUPPOSITIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF CAUSATION BY LEGAL DOCTRINES; III. THE FIRST BLIND ALLEY: THE ATTEMPT TO REPLACE PROXIMATE CAUSATION WITH CULPABILITY AS A PREREQUISITE FOR LEGAL LIABILITY; IV. THE LEGAL PRESUPPOSITION OF THERE BEING 'INTERVENING CAUSES'; V. THE METAPHYSICS OF CAUSAL RELATA; VI. THE METAPHYSICS OF THE CAUSAL RELATION; APPENDIX; BIBLIOGRAPHY

`Michael Moore's Causation and Responsibility offers an integrated conception of the law, morality, and metaphysice, centered on the notion of causation, grounded in a detailed knowledge of case law, and supported on every point by cogent argument. This is outstanding work. It is a worthy successor to Hart and Honoré's classic Causation in the Law, and I expect that it will guide discussion for many years to come.' Jonathan Schaffer, Legal Theory `The most comprehensive study of this topic since Hart and Honoré, this work pulsates with arguments and examples, all in the service of an integrated picture of the interactions between law, morals, the philosophy of mind, and the metaphysics of causation. Moore's uncompromising realism brings a remarkable unity to his argument, and will form the starting point for any similar discussion from now onwards.' Simon Blackburn, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge `My very highest recommendation-this book deserves a place on the shelf of every legal academic.' Lawrence Solum `This must rank as one of the most successful applications of analytical philosophy to substantive questions of law ever. There are few important questions of criminal, tort, contract, and property law that are not in some significant way intertwined with issues of causation. As a result, there are few such questions that this book leaves untouched, or unchanged. The book should fire the imagination of all willing to look in a fresh way at some of the most fundamental problems of law. No one trying to think seriously about those problems will be able to proceed, nor indeed would want to proceed, without reckoning with its insights and arguments.' Leo Katz, Frank Carano Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School `Causation and Responsibility bustles with proactive ideas and arguments, explored with rigorous analysis and systematically' Sandy Steel, University of Cambridge, Law Quarterly Review

Provides the fullest account available of the philosophical foundations of the law of causation, clarifying its role in attributing responsibility Develops from the philosophical analysis a powerful case for reforming the law in several key areas, including intervening causation and forseeability of harm Presents a compelling argument against the use of risk analysis as an alternative to causation

Michael Moore holds the Charles R. Walgreen, Jr. Chair at the University of Illinois, where he is jointly appointed as the Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy. His major works include Placing Blame (OUP, 1997), Act and Crime, (OUP, 1993) and Law and Psychiatry (CUP, 1984).

Provides the fullest account available of the philosophical foundations of the law of causation, clarifying its role in attributing responsibility Develops from the philosophical analysis a powerful case for reforming the law in several key areas, including intervening causation and forseeability of harm Presents a compelling argument against the use of risk analysis as an alternative to causation