Essential Structure for Causal Models.

This paper introduces and defends a new principle for when a structural equation model is apt for analyzing actual causation. Any such analysis in terms of these models has two components: a recipe for reading claims of actual causation off an apt model, and an articulation of what makes a model apt...

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Publicado en:Australasian Journal of Philosophy Vol. 103; no. 2; pp. 293 - 316
Autor principal: McDonald, Jenn
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jun2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Jun2025
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        10.1080/00048402.2024.2410848
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        atl: Essential Structure for Causal Models.
      aug:
        au: McDonald, Jenn
        affil: Columbia University
      su:
        Causal models
        Structural equation modeling
        Mediation
        Normativity (Ethics)
      sug:
        subj:
          Causal models
          Structural equation modeling
          Mediation
          Normativity (Ethics)
      keyword:
        actual causation
        aptness
        essential structure
        normality
        structural equation models
        structural isomorphs
      ab: This paper introduces and defends a new principle for when a structural equation model is apt for analyzing actual causation. Any such analysis in terms of these models has two components: a recipe for reading claims of actual causation off an apt model, and an articulation of what makes a model apt. The primary focus in the literature has been on the first component. But the problem of structural isomorphs has made the second especially pressing (Hall 2007; Hitchcock 2007a). Those with realist sympathies have reason to resist the standard response to this problem, which introduces a normative parameter into the metaphysics (Hall 2007; Halpern and Hitchcock 2010, 2015; Halpern 2016a; Menzies 2017; Gallow 2021). However, the only alternative solution in the literature leaves central questions unanswered (Blanchard and Schaffer 2017). I propose an independently motivated aptness requirement, Evident Mediation, that provides the missing details and resolves the structural isomorph problem without need for a normative parameter.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
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    language: English
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