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arXiv · 1106.2652

Actual causation and the art of modeling

Joseph Y. Halpern·Christopher Hitchcock
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Abstract

We look more carefully at the modeling of causality using structural equations. It is clear that the structural equations can have a major impact on the conclusions we draw about causality. In particular, the choice of variables and their values can also have a significant impact on causality. These choices are, to some extent, subjective. We consider what counts as an appropriate choice. More generally, we consider what makes a model an appropriate model, especially if we want to take defaults into account, as was argued is necessary in recent work.

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Joseph Y. Halpern, Christopher Hitchcock. 2011-06-14. Actual causation and the art of modeling. https://arxiv.org/abs/1106.2652

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