| Summary: | Consensus in the contemporary philosophical literature has it that conserved quantity
theories of causation such as that of Dowe [2000]—according to which causation is to be
analysed in terms of the exchange of conserved quantities (e.g., energy)—face damning
problems when confronted with contemporary physics, where the notion of conservation
becomes delicate. In particular, in general relativity it is often claimed that there simply
are no conservation laws for (say) total-stress energy. If this claim is correct, it is difficult
to see how conserved quantity theories of causation could survive. In this article, we
resist the above consensus and defend conserved quantity theories from this conclusion,
at least when focusing on the apparent problems posed by general relativity. We argue
that this approach to causation can continue to be defended in general relativity, once one
appreciates (a) the availability of approximate symmetries in generic general relativistic
spacetimes, and (b) the role of modelling and idealisation in that theory. Given these
points, conserved quantity theories of causation must stand or fall on other grounds.
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