According to Woodward’s (Making things happen. A theory of causal explanation, Oxford University Press, New York, 2003) influential account of explanation, explanations have a counterfactual structure, and explanatory counterfactuals are analysed in terms of causal relations and interventions. In this paper, we provide a formal semantics of explanatory counterfactuals based on a Ramsey Test semantics of conditionals. Like Woodward’s account, our account is guided by causal considerations. Unlike Woodward’s account, it makes no reference to causal graphs and it also covers cases of explanation where interventions are impossible.
Andreas, H., Casini, L. (2019). Hypothetical Interventions and Belief Changes. FOUNDATIONS OF SCIENCE, 24(4), 681-704 [10.1007/s10699-019-09605-8].
Hypothetical Interventions and Belief Changes
Casini, Lorenzo
2019
Abstract
According to Woodward’s (Making things happen. A theory of causal explanation, Oxford University Press, New York, 2003) influential account of explanation, explanations have a counterfactual structure, and explanatory counterfactuals are analysed in terms of causal relations and interventions. In this paper, we provide a formal semantics of explanatory counterfactuals based on a Ramsey Test semantics of conditionals. Like Woodward’s account, our account is guided by causal considerations. Unlike Woodward’s account, it makes no reference to causal graphs and it also covers cases of explanation where interventions are impossible.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
