title: Causality and methodology. Notes on thanatochronological estimations.
abstract: The authors propose some methodological considerations on thanatochronological estimations. They first consider the problem of the definition of death, and then they deal with the issue of the estimations of death time, that is, with the Post-Mortem Interval (PMI). As regards the first question, they note that it does not concern only the definition of death, but also the choice of a particular kind of definition of 'definition'. With reference to the second question, the authors suggest a causal model showing that the presence of many causal chains must be taken into consideration. Finally they discuss what 'most convenient and reliable causal chain' means for a thanatochronologist.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, University of Padova, Piazza Capitaniato 3, 35139 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boniolo
authors.forename: Mirella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Libero
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aprile
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001344:Autopsy / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D015984:Causality; D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends; D044707:Forensic Sciences / Q000379:methods; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D013795:Thanatology; D013995:Time