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    Lewis's own counterfactual analysis treats causation as a... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The purple flame case is not a genuine counterexample to the transitivity of causation, because the contrast situations at each end of the two causal statements do not match.

    Lewis's own counterfactual analysis treats causation as a binary relation between events, not a quaternary contrastive relation.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Lewis's counterfactual analysis explicitly defines causation via chains of counterfactual dependence between distinct events without contrastive structure.
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    • 2.Binary relations (A causes B) are simpler and more parsimonious than quaternary relations, aligning with Lewis's methodological preferences.
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    • 3.Lewis's framework successfully explains causal chains and transitivity using only two-place relations, without requiring contrast classes or alternatives.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Contrastive theorists argue Lewis implicitly relies on implicit contrasts when determining which counterfactual differences matter causally.
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    • 2.Lewis's treatment of causation requires background contexts and norm-relative judgments that function like hidden quaternary parameters in practice.
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    • 3.The claim overstates formalism: even if Lewis's notation uses binary relations, the actual causal reasoning involves suppressed contrastive judgments about relevance.
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    Connections

    2 topics

    Causation1 linkedModality & Possibility1 linked

    Related

    Binary relations (A causes B) are simpler and more parsimonious than quaternary ...Contrastive theorists argue Lewis implicitly relies on implicit contrasts when d...Lewis's counterfactual analysis explicitly defines causation via chains of count...Lewis's framework successfully explains causal chains and transitivity using onl...
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    Lewis's treatment of causation requires background contexts and norm-relative ju...The claim overstates formalism: even if Lewis's notation uses binary relations, ...The purple flame case is not a genuine counterexample to the transitivity of cau...

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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    1 edit