[tomrod]

Informationally, this post lands on information regarding randomized controlled trials (RCTs). However, there isn't a specific thesis I can nail down outside of introducing a general audience to the history and philosophy of RCTs. There is some discussion regarding how they aren't a panacea, but its more of an afterthought.

[ordu]

I really liked Judea Pearl take on RCTs in his "The Book of Why". It is not much of the history or philosophy, but he show why RCTs works, why randomness do the trick, he does it from the standpoint of a wider theory of a causation that can explain not just RCT but also other methods of untangling causes and effects, and therefore it becomes easy to him to talk why RCTs may not work.

[tomrod]

Aye, Pearl's explanation and textbook Causality are fantastic.