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13Mental causation, interventionism, and probabilistic supervenienceSynthese. forthcoming.Mental causation is notoriously threatened by the causal exclusion argument. A prominent strategy to save mental causation from causal exclusion consists in subscribing to an interventionist account of causation. This move has, however, recently been challenged by several authors. In this paper, we do two things: We (i) develop what we consider to be the strongest version of the interventionist causal exclusion argument currently on the market and (ii) propose a new way how it can in principle b…Read more
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17Free Will, Control, and the Possibility to do Otherwise from a Causal Modeler’s PerspectiveErkenntnis 87 (4): 1889-1906. 2020.Strong notions of free will are closely connected to the possibility to do otherwise as well as to an agent’s ability to causally influence her environment via her decisions controlling her actions. In this paper we employ techniques from the causal modeling literature to investigate whether a notion of free will subscribing to one or both of these requirements is compatible with naturalistic views of the world such as non-reductive physicalism to the background of determinism and indeterminism.…Read more
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56Causal Bayes nets and token-causation: Closing the gap between token-level and type-levelErkenntnis 1-23. forthcoming.Causal Bayes nets (CBNs) provide one of the most powerful tools for modelling coarse-grained type-level causal structure. As in other fields (e.g., thermodynamics) the question arises how such coarse-grained characterisations are related to the characterisation of their underlying structure (in this case: token-level causal relations). Answering this question meets what is called a “coherence-requirement” in the reduction debate: How are different accounts of one and the same system (or kind of …Read more
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57Unification and explanation from a causal perspectiveStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 99 (C): 28-36. 2023.We discuss two influential views of unification: mutual information unification (MIU) and common origin unification (COU). We propose a simple probabilistic measure for COU and compare it with Myrvold’s (2003, 2017) probabilistic measure for MIU. We then explore how well these two measures perform in simple causal settings. After highlighting several deficiencies, we propose causal constraints for both measures. A comparison with explanatory power shows that the causal version of COU is one step…Read more
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3Conference Report: Salzburg Conference for Young Analytic Philosophy 2011Kriterion - Journal of Philosophy 1 (26): 104-109. 2012.
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399The role of source reliability in belief polarisationSynthese 199 (3-4): 10253-10276. 2021.Psychological studies show that the beliefs of two agents in a hypothesis can diverge even if both agents receive the same evidence. This phenomenon of belief polarisation is often explained by invoking biased assimilation of evidence, where the agents’ prior views about the hypothesis affect the way they process the evidence. We suggest, using a Bayesian model, that even if such influence is excluded, belief polarisation can still arise by another mechanism. This alternative mechanism involves …Read more
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89The Causal Theory of Knowledge Revisited: An Interventionist ApproachRatio 34 (3): 193-202. 2021.Goldman (1967) proposed that a subject s knows p if and only if p is appropriately causally connected to s’s believing p. He later on abandoned this theory (Goldman, 1976). The main objection to the theory is that the causal connection required by Goldman is compatible with certain problematic forms of luck. In this paper we argue that Goldman’s causal theory of knowledge can overcome the luck problem if causation is understood along interventionist lines. We also show that the modified theory l…Read more
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94Inductive metaphysics: Editors' introductionGrazer Philosophische Studien 98 (1): 1-26. 2021.This introduction consists of two parts. In the first part, the special issue editors introduce inductive metaphysics from a historical as well as from a systematic point of view and discuss what distinguishes it from other modern approaches to metaphysics. In the second part, they give a brief summary of the individual articles in this special issue.
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105Quantifying proportionality and the limits of higher-level causation and explanationBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 74 (3): 573-601. 2023.Supporters of the autonomy of higher-level causation (or explanation) often appeal to proportionality, arguing that higher-level causes are more proportional than their lower-level realizers. Recently, measures based on information theory and causal modeling have been proposed that allow one to shed new light on proportionality and the related notion of specificity. In this paper we apply ideas from this literature to the issue of higher vs. lower-level causation (and explanation). Surprisingly,…Read more
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71Free will as a higher‐level phenomenon?Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 9 (3): 177-187. 2020.List (2014, 2019) has recently argued for a particular view of free will as a higher-level phenomenon compatible with determinism. According to List, one could refute his account by showing that determinism at the physical level implies the impossibility of doing otherwise at the agential level. This paper takes up that challenge. Based on assumptions to which List’s approach is committed, I provide a simple probabilistic model that establishes the connection between physical determinism and the…Read more
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123Free Will, Control, and the Possibility to do Otherwise from a Causal Modeler’s PerspectiveErkenntnis 87 (4): 1889-1906. 2022.Strong notions of free will are closely connected to the possibility to do otherwise as well as to an agent’s ability to causally influence her environment via her decisions controlling her actions. In this paper we employ techniques from the causal modeling literature to investigate whether a notion of free will subscribing to one or both of these requirements is compatible with naturalistic views of the world such as non-reductive physicalism to the background of determinism and indeterminism.…Read more
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100A new proposal how to handle counterexamples to Markov causation à la Cartwright, or: fixing the chemical factorySynthese 197 (4): 1467-1486. 2020.Cartwright (Synthese 121(1/2):3–27, 1999a; The dappled world, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999b) attacked the view that causal relations conform to the Markov condition by providing a counterexample in which a common cause does not screen off its effects: the prominent chemical factory. In this paper we suggest a new way to handle counterexamples to Markov causation such as the chemical factory. We argue that Cartwright’s as well as similar scenarios feature a certain kind of non-caus…Read more
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20Introduction to the special issue “Logical perspectives on science and cognition”Synthese 197 (4): 1381-1390. 2020.
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69Modeling creative abduction Bayesian styleEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 9 (1): 1-15. 2019.Schurz (Synthese 164:201–234, 2008) proposed a justification of creative abduction on the basis of the Reichenbachian principle of the common cause. In this paper we take up the idea of combining creative abduction with causal principles and model instances of successful creative abduction within a Bayes net framework. We identify necessary conditions for such inferences and investigate their unificatory power. We also sketch several interesting applications of modeling creative abduction Bayesi…Read more
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118A causal Bayes net analysis of dispositionsSynthese 198 (5): 4873-4895. 2021.In this paper we develop an analysis of dispositions by means of causal Bayes nets. In particular, we analyze dispositions as cause-effect structures that increase the probability of the manifestation when the stimulus is brought about by intervention in certain circumstances. We then highlight several advantages of our analysis and how it can handle problems arising for classical analyses of dispositions such as masks, mimickers, and finks.
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100A Causal Bayes Net Analysis of Glennan’s Mechanistic Account of Higher-Level CausationBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 73 (1): 185-210. 2022.One of Stuart Glennan's most prominent contributions to the new mechanist debate consists in his reductive analysis of higher-level causation in terms of mechanisms (Glennan, 1996). In this paper I employ the causal Bayes net framework to reconstruct his analysis. This allows for specifying general assumptions which have to be satis ed to get Glennan's approach working. I show that once these assumptions are in place, they imply (against the background of the causal Bayes net machinery) that hig…Read more
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82Confirmation based on analogical inference: Bayes meets JeffreyCanadian Journal of Philosophy 50 (2): 174-194. 2020.Certain hypotheses cannot be directly confirmed for theoretical, practical, or moral reasons. For some of these hypotheses, however, there might be a workaround: confirmation based on analogical reasoning. In this paper we take up Dardashti, Hartmann, Thébault, and Winsberg’s (in press) idea of analyzing confirmation based on analogical inference Baysian style. We identify three types of confirmation by analogy and show that Dardashti et al.’s approach can cover two of them. We then highlight po…Read more
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79Establishing backward causation on empirical grounds: An interventionist approachThought: A Journal of Philosophy 8 (2): 129-138. 2019.We propose an analysis of backward causation in terms of interventionism that can avoid several problems typically associated with backward causation. Its main advantage over other accounts is that it allows for reducing the problematic task of supporting backward causal claims to the unproblematic task of finding evidence for several ordinary forward directed causal hypotheses.
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14The Second International Conference of the German Society for Philosophy of Science , 8–11 March 2016Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 48 (2): 289-291. 2017.
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75Combining causal Bayes nets and cellular automata: A hybrid modelling approach to mechanismsBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 72 (3): 839-864. 2021.Causal Bayes nets (CBNs) can be used to model causal relationships up to whole mechanisms. Though modelling mechanisms with CBNs comes with many advantages, CBNs might fail to adequately represent some biological mechanisms because—as Kaiser (2016) pointed out—they have problems with capturing relevant spatial and structural information. In this paper we propose a hybrid approach for modelling mechanisms that combines CBNs and cellular automata. Our approach can incorporate spatial and structura…Read more
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88Editors' IntroductionTheoria 29 (1): 5-7. 2014.Editors’ introduction to the monographic section _Explanation, Causality, and Unification_.
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117Causal exclusion without physical completeness and no overdeterminationAbstracta 10 3-14. 2017.Hitchcock demonstrated that the validity of causal exclusion arguments as well as the plausibility of several of their premises hinges on the specific theory of causation endorsed. In this paper I show that the validity of causal exclusion arguments—if represented within the theory of causal Bayes nets the way Gebharter suggests—actually requires much weaker premises than the ones which are typically assumed. In particular, neither completeness of the physical domain nor the no overdetermination…Read more
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43Philosophy of Science Between the Natural Sciences, the Social Sciences, and the Humanities: IntroductionJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 48 (3): 317-326. 2017.This introduction provides a detailed summary of all papers of the special issue on the second conference of the German Society for Philosophy of Science: GWP.2016.
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32A causal Bayesian network model of disease progression mechanisms in chronic myeloid leukemiaJournal of Theoretical Biology 433 94-105. 2017.Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a cancer of the hematopoietic system initiated by a single genetic mutation which results in the oncogenic fusion protein Bcr-Abl. Untreated, patients pass through different phases of the disease beginning with the rather asymptomatic chronic phase and ultimately culminating into blast crisis, an acute leukemia resembling phase with a very high mortality. Although many processes underlying the chronic phase are well understood, the exact mechanisms of disease pr…Read more
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57Introduction to the special issue “Causation, probability, and truth—the philosophy of Clark Glymour”Synthese 193 (4): 1007-1010. 2016.
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36Conference Report: Salzburg Conference for Young Analytic Philosophy 2011 (review)Kriterion - Journal of Philosophy 26 (1): 104-109. 2012.The SOPhiA conferences are intended to give young predoctoral philosophers the possibility to actively attend a professional conference, to tackle current, as well as classical, philosophical problems, and to discuss their own approaches with promising students from many dierent countries as well as with wellestablished experts. We are firmly convinced that this is a natural and necessary step for promoting the next generation of analytic philosophers and thus, strengthening analytic philosophy …Read more
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81A formal framework for representing mechanisms?Philosophy of Science 81 (1): 138-153. 2014.In this article I tackle the question of how the hierarchical order of mechanisms can be represented within a causal graph framework. I illustrate an answer to this question proposed by Casini, Illari, Russo, and Williamson and provide an example that their formalism does not support two important features of nested mechanisms: (i) a mechanism’s submechanisms are typically causally interacting with other parts of said mechanism, and (ii) intervening in some of a mechanism’s parts should have som…Read more
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80Philosophy of Science in Germany, 1992–2012: Survey-Based Overview and Quantitative AnalysisJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 45 (1): 71-160. 2014.An overview of the German philosophy of science community is given for the years 1992–2012, based on a survey in which 159 philosophers of science in Germany participated. To this end, the institutional background of the German philosophy of science community is examined in terms of journals, centers, and associations. Furthermore, a qualitative description and a quantitative analysis of our survey results are presented. Quantitative estimates are given for: (a) academic positions, (b) research …Read more
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170Causal Exclusion and Causal Bayes NetsPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 95 (2): 353-375. 2017.In this paper I reconstruct and evaluate the validity of two versions of causal exclusion arguments within the theory of causal Bayes nets. I argue that supervenience relations formally behave like causal relations. If this is correct, then it turns out that both versions of the exclusion argument are valid when assuming the causal Markov condition and the causal minimality condition. I also investigate some consequences for the recent discussion of causal exclusion arguments in the light of an …Read more
Alexander Gebharter
Marche Polytechnic University
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Marche Polytechnic UniversityAssistant Professor
Ancona, Marche, Italy
Areas of Specialization
3 more
General Philosophy of Science |
Epistemology, Misc |
Formal Epistemology, Misc |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Mind |
Causation |
Causal Modeling |
Causal Reasoning, Misc |
PhilPapers Editorships
Causal Reasoning |
Causal Modeling |
Causal Reasoning, Misc |