piatra . institutepathwaysFinding the next step…
Move from Hume’s problem to counterfactuals, interventions and causal models, keeping inference distinct from metaphysics.
Beginner critical thinking is a useful starting point. Drawing directed graphs is enough for the opening work; probability helps with the later inference examples.
A causal diagram, an intervention argument and a critique of its assumptions.
Start here if the background is new. Equivalent experience is enough.
Reconstruct an argument and its assumptions before examining an intervention claim.
Use probability for the later causal-inference examples; directed diagrams are enough to begin.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy editors · reference
Causal graphs and the distinction between observation and intervention
Check reading access
Open the readingCausal Models. Draw a small graph and distinguish a correlation from an intervention question.
David Hume · book · 1748
Hume’s causation discussion, Lewis’s argument and Pearl’s intervention account
Check reading access
Open the readingDavid Lewis · paper · 1973
Hume’s causation discussion, Lewis’s argument and Pearl’s intervention account
Check reading access
Open the readingJudea Pearl · book · 2000
Hume’s causation discussion, Lewis’s argument and Pearl’s intervention account
Check reading access
Open the readingAn Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Reconstruct the selected causation argument and its distinction between observation and necessary connection.
Causation. Trace the counterfactual account and try a case with several contributing conditions.
Causality. Use a selected graph-based argument to identify the assumptions behind an intervention claim.
Judea Pearl · Dana Mackenzie · book · 2018
A confounding and adjustment example
Check reading access
Open the readingHernán · Robins · book · 2020
A confounding and adjustment example
Check reading access
Open the readingThe Book of Why. Follow one confounding example and distinguish seeing from intervening.
Causal Inference: What If. Choose a worked adjustment example and list the identification assumptions.
Nancy Cartwright · book · 1989
Capacities, contributing conditions and counterexamples
Check reading access
Open the readingJ. L. Mackie · book · 1974
Capacities, contributing conditions and counterexamples
Check reading access
Open the readingNature's Capacities and Their Measurement. Ask which capacities and background conditions make a causal account work.
The Cement of the Universe. Examine a causal condition within a larger combination of conditions.
Editorial perspectives based on selected works, rather than author-endorsed reading lists.
An editorial comparison of the route’s selected accounts and evidence.
A curated synthesis cannot be neutral or exhaustive. Follow the primary sources when an interpretation matters.
An editorial reconstruction using the selected work of David Hume.
This is not an author-endorsed syllabus. The reconstruction highlights selected works and may omit other commitments.
An editorial reconstruction using the selected work of Judea Pearl.
This is not an author-endorsed syllabus. The reconstruction highlights selected works and may omit other commitments.
An editorial reconstruction using the selected work of Nancy Cartwright.
This is not an author-endorsed syllabus. The reconstruction highlights selected works and may omit other commitments.
Background, different viewpoints, and further reading.
Reconstruct the selected causation argument and its distinction between observation and necessary connection.
Hume’s causation discussion, Lewis’s argument and Pearl’s intervention account
Trace the counterfactual account and try a case with several contributing conditions.
Hume’s causation discussion, Lewis’s argument and Pearl’s intervention account
Use a selected graph-based argument to identify the assumptions behind an intervention claim.
Hume’s causation discussion, Lewis’s argument and Pearl’s intervention account
Follow one confounding example and distinguish seeing from intervening.
A confounding and adjustment example
Ask which capacities and background conditions make a causal account work.
Capacities, contributing conditions and counterexamples
Compare this account’s mechanism with the preceding reading; note where their predictions differ.
Selected chapters and argument
Examine a causal condition within a larger combination of conditions.
Capacities, contributing conditions and counterexamples
Choose a worked adjustment example and list the identification assumptions.
A confounding and adjustment example
Inspect one identification strategy and a case where its assumptions fail.
One worked identification example and its assumptions
Compare this account’s mechanism with the preceding reading; note where their predictions differ.
Selected chapters and argument
Use the entry’s distinctions and bibliography to test the route’s central argument, rather than treating a summary as a substitute for the primary source.
Named section and worked examples
Use the entry’s distinctions and bibliography to test the route’s central argument, rather than treating a summary as a substitute for the primary source.
Named section and worked examples
Use the entry’s distinctions and bibliography to test the route’s central argument, rather than treating a summary as a substitute for the primary source.
Named section and worked examples
Use the entry’s distinctions and bibliography to test the route’s central argument, rather than treating a summary as a substitute for the primary source.
Named section and worked examples
Use the entry’s distinctions and bibliography to test the route’s central argument, rather than treating a summary as a substitute for the primary source.
Named section and worked examples
Use the entry’s distinctions and bibliography to test the route’s central argument, rather than treating a summary as a substitute for the primary source.
Named section and worked examples
Draw a small graph and distinguish a correlation from an intervention question.
Causal graphs and the distinction between observation and intervention
Use the entry’s distinctions and bibliography to test the route’s central argument, rather than treating a summary as a substitute for the primary source.
Named section and worked examples
Use the entry’s distinctions and bibliography to test the route’s central argument, rather than treating a summary as a substitute for the primary source.
Named section and worked examples
Use the entry’s distinctions and bibliography to test the route’s central argument, rather than treating a summary as a substitute for the primary source.
Named section and worked examples
Use causal diagrams, interventions and assumption checks to assess a model’s causal claims.
Use competing causal diagrams to examine explanations of institutional and economic change.
Compare the causal assumptions used in diagrams and in discussions of Bell experiments.