Contents -- Introduction -- Background: Theories of Causation -- Background: Tropes -- Outline -- 1. Preemption -- Why Preemption, and What Is Preemption? -- Deterministic Theories -- Probabilistic Theories -- Singularist Accounts -- Objections -- 2. The Significance of Preemption -- Mechanism -- Against Arguments for Causal Realism -- Mechanism, Nonmechanism, and Methodology -- Persistence and Causal Relata -- 3. Causal Relata -- Davidson versus Kim -- Two Ways to Interpret Property Instances -- Summary -- 4. Qualitative Persistence -- For the Existence and Persistence of Tropes -- Against a Causal Account of Trope Persistence -- Summary -- 5. The Alphabet of Causation -- Mackie on Qualitative Persistence -- Partial Trope Persistence -- A Theory of Causation -- Summary -- 6. Causal Asymmetry -- Two Preliminary Concepts -- A Definition of Causal Priority -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- W.