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
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    The purple flame case is not a genuine counterexample to ... — Carmelics
    Home/Modality & Possibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    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.

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

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

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

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Causal statements are contrastive: they assert that one event rather than a contrast event caused another event rather than a contrast event.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The first causal statement contrasts Jones putting potassium salts in the fire versus not doing so, causing the flame to turn purple rather than yellow.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.The second causal statement contrasts the purple fire occurring versus not occurring, causing the flammable material to ignite versus not ignite.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Lewis's own counterfactual analysis treats causation as a binary relation between events, not a quaternary contrastive relation.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Introducing contrastivism as a repair to transitivity failures is an ad hoc modification that abandons the original reductive ambitions of the counterfactual theory.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.If the contrastivist move is accepted, it generates a revisionary causal ontology where ordinary singular causal claims become systematically indeterminate without further specification of contrasts.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Hall's distinction between production and dependence identifies transitivity failures as revealing a genuine conceptual bifurcation in our causal concept, not a linguistic mismatch.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The purple flame case tracks the production relation: there is a continuous causal process from the salt to the ignition, yet the dependence relation fails because ignition would have occurred via other means.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Explaining away the counterexample via contrastive semantics masks the metaphysically significant fact that causation is not a single unified relation, thereby sacrificing theoretical insight for formal tidiness.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Topics

    Modality & PossibilityCausation

    Connections

    1 topic

    Philosophy of Language1 linked

    Related

    A mismatch of contrast situations means the apparent counterexample to transitiv...Causal statements are contrastive: they assert that one event rather than a cont...Explaining away the counterexample via contrastive semantics masks the metaphysi...Hall's distinction between production and dependence identifies transitivity fai...
    +7 moreShow less
    If the contrastivist move is accepted, it generates a revisionary causal ontolog...Introducing contrastivism as a repair to transitivity failures is an ad hoc modi...Lewis's own counterfactual analysis treats causation as a binary relation betwee...The first causal statement contrasts Jones putting potassium salts in the fire v...The purple flame case tracks the production relation: there is a continuous caus...The second causal statement contrasts the purple fire occurring versus not occur...When the contrast situation at the effect-end of the first causal statement does...

    Similar

    The purple flame case is not a genuine counterexample to the transitiv...97%The second causal statement contrasts the purple fire occurring versus...80%When the contrast situation at the effect-end of the first causal stat...79%The effect of the first causal link is the flame's being a purple colo...77%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: causation-counterfactual
    View source passageHide passage
    Various replies have been made to these counterexamples. L.A. Paul (2004) offers a response to the second example that involves conceiving of the relata of causation as event aspects: she argues that there is mismatch between the event aspect that is the effect of the first causal link (the flame’s being a purple colour) and the event aspect that is the cause of the second causal link (the flame’s touching the flammable material). Thus, while it’s true that the purple flame did not cause the ign
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

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