Sufficient Causes: On Oxygen, Matches, and Fires

Pearl Judea ()
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Pearl Judea: Cognitive Systems Laboratory, Computer Science Department, University of California, Los Angeles, CA90024, USA

Journal of Causal Inference, 2019, vol. 7, issue 2, 8

Abstract: We demonstrate how counterfactuals can be used to compute the probability that one event was/is a sufficient cause of another, and how counterfactuals emerge organically from basic scientific knowledge, rather than manipulative experiments. We contrast this demonstration with the potential outcome framework and address the distinction between causes and enablers.

Keywords: Counterfactuals; sufficient causes; explanation; abduction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:causin:v:7:y:2019:i:2:p:8:n:4

DOI: 10.1515/jci-2019-0026

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