Causes and Explanations: A Structural-Model Approach, Part I: Causes
Artificial Intelligence
2007-05-23 v3
Abstract
We propose a new definition of actual cause, 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.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cs/0011012,
title = {Causes and Explanations: A Structural-Model Approach, Part I: Causes},
author = {Joseph Y. Halpern and Judea Pearl},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cs/0011012},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
Part II of the paper (on Explanation) is also on the arxiv. Previously the two parts were submitted as one paper. To appear in the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science