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Inverse View
It is not the case that The dial-turning act was a cause of the explosion even though the explosion did not counterfactually depend on the dial-turning act
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Reasons For
1 perspective
Reason for
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1.
Turning the dial up increased the chance of the bomb exploding
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2.
Had the dial not been turned up, the bomb would merely have been very unlikely to explode, not certain not to explode
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3.
The bomb exploded
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Reasons Against
2 perspectives
Reason against 1 of 2
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1.
Causal relevance requires only that an action raise the probability of an outcome, not that it be necessary for that outcome (Eells 1991).
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2.
The dial-turning act raised the objective chance of explosion, making it a probabilistic cause even under indeterministic overdetermination.
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3.
Lewis's own later work (2004) defines causation via influence, where altering the manner of C alters the manner of E, satisfied here by degree of certainty.
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Reason against 2 of 2
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1.
Counterfactual dependence is sufficient but not necessary for causation; process continuity independently grounds causal claims (Salmon 1984).
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2.
The dial-turning act initiated a continuous physical process—a specific causal mechanism—connecting it to the explosion regardless of alternative pathways.
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