Causes and Explanations: A Structural-Model Approach. Part I: Causes

Authors: Halpern, Joseph Y.; Pearl, Judea

Source: British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Volume 56, Number 4, December 2005 , pp. 843-887(45)

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Abstract:

We propose a new definition of actual causes, using structural equations to model counterfactuals. We show that the definition yields a plausible and elegant account of causation that handles well examples which have caused problems for other definitions and resolves major difficulties in the traditional account. <LIST> <ITEM>

Introduction </ITEM> <ITEM>

Causal models: a review <ITEM>

2.1 Causal models </ITEM> <ITEM>

2.2 Syntax and semantics </ITEM></LIST></ITEM> <ITEM>

The definition of cause </ITEM> <ITEM>

Examples </ITEM> <ITEM>

A more refined definition </ITEM> <ITEM>

Discussion </ITEM></LIST> <ITEM>

AAppendix: Some Technical Issues </ITEM></LIST> <ITEM>

A.1 The active causal process </ITEM> <ITEM>

A.2 A closer look at AC2(b) </ITEM> <ITEM>

A.3 Causality with infinitely many variables </ITEM> <ITEM>

A.4 Causality in nonrecursive models </ITEM></LIST>

Keywords: steady-size distributions; fixed-size splitting

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axi147

Publication date: 2005-12-01

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