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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
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    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Lewis's own counterfactual analysis treats causation as a binary relation between events, not a quaternary contrastive relation.

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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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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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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 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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