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    Causation is the ancestral of counterfactual dependence — Carmelics
    Home/Causation
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    Causation is the ancestral of counterfactual dependence

    Causation
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Event B is counterfactually dependent on event A if and only if the counterfactual 'Had A not occurred, B would not have occurred' is true
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    • 2.Event C causes event E if and only if there is a chain C, D1, …, Dn, E such that each member in the chain (except C) is counterfactually dependent on the event before it
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Preemption cases (Schaffer's 'trumping': two wizards cast spells, only the senior wizard's spell takes effect) show causation without any counterfactual dependence between cause and effect.
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    • 2.Since the junior wizard's spell would have produced the same effect, no stepwise chain of counterfactual dependence connects the senior wizard's spell to the outcome.
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    • 3.If the ancestral relation requires each link to be a genuine counterfactual dependency, preemption systematically generates counterexamples that cannot be resolved by lengthening the causal chain.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Symmetric overdetermination cases (e.g., two simultaneous fires each sufficient to burn a house) produce genuine causes with no counterfactual dependence in either causal chain.
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    • 2.If neither fire's absence would have prevented the house from burning, the ancestral-of-dependence relation fails to identify either fire as a cause, contradicting causal intuition.
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    Causation

    Related

    Event B is counterfactually dependent on event A if and only if the counterfactu...Event C causes event E if and only if there is a chain C, D1, …, Dn, E such that...If neither fire's absence would have prevented the house from burning, the ances...If the ancestral relation requires each link to be a genuine counterfactual depe...
    +3 moreShow less
    Preemption cases (Schaffer's 'trumping': two wizards cast spells, only the senio...Since the junior wizard's spell would have produced the same effect, no stepwise...Symmetric overdetermination cases (e.g., two simultaneous fires each sufficient ...

    Similar

    Causal statements cannot be defined purely in terms of counterfactual ...83%There is no chain of stepwise counterfactual dependences running from ...77%The Stalnaker-Lewis theory of counterfactuals cannot adequately evalua...75%Event B is counterfactually dependent on event A if and only if the co...74%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: david-lewis
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    In “Causation” (1973b), Lewis put forward an analysis of causation in terms of counterfactual dependence. The idea was that event B was counterfactually dependent on event A if and only if the counterfactual Had A not occurred, B would not have occurred was true. Then event C causes event E if and only if there is a chain C, D1, …, Dn, E such that each member in the chain (except C) is counterfactually dependent on the event before it. In summary, causation is the ancestral of counterfactual d
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit