Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Events A and B that occur in almost completely overlappin... — Carmelics
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Modality & Possibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Events A and B that occur in almost completely overlapping spatial regions will be correlated, and a common cause may not screen them off

    CausationModality & Possibility
    ?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.If two spatial regions A and B almost completely overlap but neither contains the other, the corresponding events are correlated
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.A common cause that precedes both events may fail to screen off the correlation between events in heavily overlapping regions
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Reichenbach's Common Cause Principle presupposes a well-defined event ontology where causes and effects occupy distinct, separable spacetime regions.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.When spatial regions almost completely overlap, the events they host may lack the independence required for screening-off to be a coherent probabilistic relation.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.A principle cannot be violated by cases that fall outside the scope of its well-formed application conditions, so near-total overlap dissolves rather than refutes the screening-off requirement.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Cartwright and Arntzenius have argued that apparent screening-off failures in overlapping regions reflect improper coarse-graining of the underlying causal structure, not genuine counterexamples.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If a sufficiently fine-grained common cause variable is specified—one that captures the shared physical process within the overlapping region—screening off is restored in principle.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Failures of screening-off in the cited cases therefore indict the choice of causal variables rather than the Common Cause Principle itself.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Sign in or register to share your perspective on this statement.

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.

    Topics

    Modality & PossibilityCausation

    Related

    A common cause that precedes both events may fail to screen off the correlation ...A principle cannot be violated by cases that fall outside the scope of its well-...Cartwright and Arntzenius have argued that apparent screening-off failures in ov...Failures of screening-off in the cited cases therefore indict the choice of caus...
    +4 moreShow less
    If a sufficiently fine-grained common cause variable is specified—one that captu...If two spatial regions A and B almost completely overlap but neither contains th...Reichenbach's Common Cause Principle presupposes a well-defined event ontology w...When spatial regions almost completely overlap, the events they host may lack th...

    Similar

    If two spatial regions A and B almost completely overlap but neither c...89%A common cause that precedes both events may fail to screen off the co...85%If two correlated variables X and Y are not causally related to each o...82%When regions A and B are interpreted as sets of possible states in a V...80%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: physics-Rpcc
    View source passageHide passage
    Now suppose that the regions A and B almost completely overlap, but neither is contained within the other (see Figure 5(b)). Again, the corresponding events A and B will be correlated, and the earlier common cause may not screen them off. (Arntzenius (1999 [2010: section 2.4]) has an example that has essentially this structure.) It seems that this case, too, is one in which the events A and B are insufficiently distinct. But now it becomes difficult to formulate a notion of distinctness that i
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

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