Causal concepts have surely been present from the time that language began, since the vast majority of action verbs involve the idea of causally affecting something. Thus, in the case of transitive verbs of action, there is the idea of causally affecting something external to one—one finds food, builds a shelter, sows seed, catches fish, and so on—while in the case of intransitive verbs, or at least those describing physical actions, it is very plausible that they involve the idea of causally affecting one's own body—as one walks, runs, jumps, hunts, and so on.

It was not long after the very beginning of philosophy in ancient Greece that serious reflection concerning the nature of causation arose, with Aristotle's famous discussion of causation in Book 2 of his Physics. The result was Aristotle's doctrine of four types (or, perhaps, aspects) of causes—material...