 The type of explanation which has been considered here so far is often referred to as causal explanation. If \(E\) describes a particular event, then the antecedent circumstances described in the sentences \(C_1, C_2, \ldots, C_k\) may be said jointly to “cause” that event, in the sense that there are certain empirical regularities, expressed by the laws \(L_1, L_2, \ldots, L_r\), which imply that whenever conditions of the kind indicated by \(C_1, C_2, \ldots, C_k\) occur, an event of the type described in \(E\) will take place. Statements such as \(L_1, L_2, \ldots, L_r\), which assert general and unexceptional connections between specified characteristics of events, are customarily called causal, or deterministic, laws. (Hempel &amp; Oppenheim 1948: 139)