Causation and Nature's Laws

What does it mean to say something "caused" an event? What role do chance, and what role do nature's laws play in that process? And is there any middle ground? For example, can laws be local or "mostly" true? These questions go all the way back to Aristotle but continue to be debated today. Straddling science and philosophy, we'll discuss criteria for both terms and why things happen the way they do.