A Lewisian logic of causal counterfactuals

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Minds and Machines

Publication Date

3-1-2013

Volume

23

Issue

1

First Page

77

Last Page

93

Publisher

Springer Netherlands

Keywords

Causal models, Causal reasoning, Conditional logic, Counterfactual, Intervention

Abstract

In the artificial intelligence literature a promising approach to counterfactual reasoning is to interpret counterfactual conditionals based on causal models. Different logics of such causal counterfactuals have been developed with respect to different classes of causal models. In this paper I characterize the class of causal models that are Lewisian in the sense that they validate the principles in Lewis’s well-known logic of counterfactuals. I then develop a system sound and complete with respect to this class. The resulting logic is the weakest logic of causal counterfactuals that respects Lewis’s principles, sits in between the logic developed by Galles and Pearl and the logic developed by Halpern, and stands to Galles and Pearl’s logic in the same fashion as Lewis’s stands to Stalnaker’s.

DOI

10.1007/s11023-011-9261-z

Print ISSN

09246495

E-ISSN

15728641

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Zhang, J. (2013). A Lewisian logic of causal counterfactuals. Minds and Machines, 23(1), 77-93. doi: 10.1007/s11023-011-9261-z

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