Identifying Intended Effects with Causal Models

The aim of this paper is to extend the framework of causal inference, in particular as it has been developed by Judea Pearl, in order to model actions and identify their intended effects, in the direction opened by Elisabeth Anscombe. We show how intentions can be inferred from a causal model and its implied correlations observable in data. The paper defines confounding effects as the reasons why teleological inference may fail and introduces interference as a way to control for them. The ‘‘fundamental problem’’ of teleological inference is presented, explaining why causal analysis needs an extension in order to take intentions into account.