“Systemic Causes and the Epistemology of Making Systems Safer”

In the study of accidents and disasters, experts regularly find the underlying physical mechanisms behind them. Nevertheless, inquiry rarely ends there. Experts continue to search for systemic factors—properties of the overall system—that led the loss. I argue that this pattern of inquiry is motivated by a search for systemic causes. To show this, I analyze an example of a systemic factor, called authority gradient, in terms of Woodward’s interventionist theory of causation (2003). I conclude by arguing that common epistemological views of higher-level properties need to be broadened in order to include systemic causes, and show the wider philosophical benefits of doing so.