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Structural Counterfactuals: A Brief Introduction
Author(s) -
Pearl Judea
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.498
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1551-6709
pISSN - 0364-0213
DOI - 10.1111/cogs.12065
Subject(s) - counterfactual conditional , counterfactual thinking , clarity , simplicity , computer science , cognitive science , process (computing) , causal model , causal reasoning , artificial intelligence , epistemology , data science , psychology , cognition , programming language , mathematics , philosophy , chemistry , biochemistry , statistics , neuroscience
Recent advances in causal reasoning have given rise to a computational model that emulates the process by which humans generate, evaluate, and distinguish counterfactual sentences. Contrasted with the “possible worlds” account of counterfactuals, this “structural” model enjoys the advantages of representational economy, algorithmic simplicity, and conceptual clarity. This introduction traces the emergence of the structural model and gives a panoramic view of several applications where counterfactual reasoning has benefited problem areas in the empirical sciences.