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    A causal claim whose truth depends on generalizations not... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The objection that singular causal judgments are made without belief in the associated universal generalization is consistent with Davidson's extensionalism about causality

    A causal claim whose truth depends on generalizations not yet formulable violates the extensionalist commitment that causal facts are determinate and description-independent.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Causal facts must be determinate: if causation depends on future theoretical developments, causation becomes epistemically contingent rather than ontologically fixed.
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    • 2.Extensionalism requires causation to be description-independent; reliance on unformulated generalizations makes causation dependent on our conceptual framework.
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    • 3.If causal truth awaits future generalizations, we cannot assert causal claims now with determinate truth-values, violating classical logic's law of excluded middle.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Epistemic constraints on formulation don't undermine ontic determinacy; a fact can be determinate yet require time to become formulable or knowable.
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    • 2.Many successful causal claims preceded their governing generalizations: germ theory worked causally before microbiology fully formalized disease mechanisms.
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    • 3.Description-independence means causation doesn't depend on *which description* we use, not that it's independent of *all* theoretical development whatsoever.
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    Connections

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    Truth & Knowledge1 linkedCausation1 linked

    Related

    Causal facts must be determinate: if causation depends on future theoretical dev...Description-independence means causation doesn't depend on *which description* w...Epistemic constraints on formulation don't undermine ontic determinacy; a fact c...Extensionalism requires causation to be description-independent; reliance on unf...
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    If causal truth awaits future generalizations, we cannot assert causal claims no...Many successful causal claims preceded their governing generalizations: germ the...The objection that singular causal judgments are made without belief in the asso...

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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